Hold My Hand
by Bonesboy15
Summary: A dojutsu lost to the past finds its way back to Konoha to the last remaining TRUE Uzumaki. The outcome may change Naruto and Konoha, but at least our blonde won't be alone in the matter. SakuraBashing! NaruTayu BlindNaruto R
1. Maybe

**I got this idea while listening to **_**Gotta Be Somebody**_** by Nickelback and **_**Hold My Hand**_** by Michael Jackson feat. Akon. This will be a Naruto/Tayuya fic. Rated M for Mature content: Blood, Gore, Sex, Alcohol usage, Vulgar Language...basically all the good shit. Please read and enjoy.**

**All chapter titles can be linked together, you just gotta find the link.**

**Chapter 1: **_**Maybe**_** by Sick Puppies**

**Disclaimer: I did it! I own Naruto! Wait, what? ...What do you mean that was a TYPO? That's it, in the name of the all-powerful Gods of business Trump and McMahon, Mr. Lawyer...**_**You're**_** FIRED!**

* * *

~Konoha Hospital, 5 days after failed Sasuke Retrieval Mission~

"Tsunade-sama! Tsunade-sama!" a nurse called as she ran towards a busty blonde wearing a green jacket. The blonde turned at the calling of her voice.

"Yes?" she asked, slightly irritated. Honestly, Tsunade had been up for perhaps twenty-eight hours without a single drink of sake. All she wanted was to sit down and relax with a nice, large bottle of sake.

"Tsunade-sama, the special case in room 212, something's wrong," the nurse said in a nervous tone. Tsunade racked her brain as to who would be in room 212 that the nurse would come to her and not a normal doctor. Every physician in the hospital knew that she didn't take any patient, even if they were special cases. In fact, the only ones she was marked as head physician were the members of the Sasuke Retrieval Squad...

Tsunade's eyes widened and she ran past the nurse. She didn't have to shove anyone out of her way, because they practically glued themselves to the wall when they heard the loud clacking of her heels hitting the tiled floor. She dashed down a hallway and made silent prayers to Kami.

_Please not again. Please Kami, just this once. Don't take him...I can't lose him! He's all I have left,_ she begged in her mind. Tsunade shoved a moronic intern out of her way and made a right to the hallway the patient's room was in. She skidded to a stop in front of Room 212 and kicked the door open to see a spikey haired blonde clutching his eyes and screaming in pain. That might have worried her for a moment, but the being before her absolutely made her blood boil.

"What have you done to him, _Uchiha_?" Tsunade growled to the raven haired man in the black cloak. He turned to her with his Sharingan eyes and blinked, a single tear of blood rolling down his cheek.

"I gave him his gift," the traitorous Uchiha said icily, "I also sent the nurse to gather you in an effort to make sure he stabilizes."

"What the hell are you even doing here?" Tsunade growled again, taking another step forward and glancing around the room for his partner, Kisame. The fish man was nowhere to be found, apparently.

"He isn't here," Itachi said stoically, "Not even my master knows I'm here or what I'm doing. This is my last duty as an ANBU captain to Konoha. I am preserving the village through the suffering of one. Besides, it is only right that I make amends for what my foolish brother did."

"What are you saying?" Tsunade asked, inching her way towards the sobbing blonde that occasionally whimpered in pain. Itachi's eyes flashed back to normal before turning into Sharingan again.

"There is only one way to defeat the Akatsuki and Orochimaru," Itachi said, "I just gave Naruto-kun the ability to do so. He now contains something even the Sage of Six Paths feared."

"And that is?" Tsunade asked carefully. She was a step away from Naruto's sobbing form. His vitals were fine, as the monitors said. Something was very wrong with the blonde though, if his sobbing didn't show it, his bleeding eyes did.

"It has no name that I'm aware of," Itachi said, "But it is said to be the most powerful dojutsu in our world. It's rumored to be stronger than the Renningan. Good luck, Tsunade-sama. You're going to need it."

With that, Itachi burst into several ravens and flew out the open window just as Shizune and Jiraiya ran into the room. Tsunade ignored them and closed the gap between herself and Naruto. She hugged him tightly while he sobbed. Tsunade felt Naruto hug her back and mumble through his muffled tears.

The buxom blonde pulled away and looked down at the young boy, "What did you say, Naruto?"

Naruto looked up at Tsunade with pale purple eyes, tears mixed with blood flowing down his cheeks, "again...I can't...I CAN'T SEE!"

Shizune and Jiraiya were surrounding the two blondes as Tsunade tried to console Naruto while he sobbed. She looked up at Jiraiya and Shizune, her attention locking on her apprentice after a second.

"Go research everything you can about the Sage of Six Paths," Tsunade ordered the younger woman. Shizune blinked in confusion.

"But shouldn't I check Naruto-kun's-?" The apprentice nurse asked before Tsunade cut her off.

"I said GO, Shizune!" the Godaime Hokage barked. The apprentice nodded and bolted out the door towards the library. Jiraiya looked back at Tsunade.

"What happened?" the white haired man asked. Naruto's head shot up as he looked in the direction Jiraiya's voice came from.

"Ero-sennin?" he asked, his eyes looking just past Jiraiya's left shoulder. Jiraiya's eyes widened and he immediately bit down on his thumb. Performing a few hand seals, Jiraiya didn't skip a beat when Tsunade looked like she was going to shout at him.

"I need a second opinion," Jiraiya said sternly. Tsunade reluctantly let him perform the summoning technique and the old green toad known as Fukasaku appeared before them all. He hopped onto Jiraiya's shoulder and bopped the Sanin on the head with his cane.

"What'd ya go and summon me for, ya dope?" the old frog asked, irritation in his voice. Jiraiya pointed at Naruto's darting eyes.

"That." The Toad Sage said simply. Fukasaku followed his gaze and his jaw dropped.

"Fuck me up the arse and call me a salamander," the toad said, "Those be the Uzugan. I'd never thought I'd see them again in my lifetime!"

"Baa-chan? Who is that? What's he talking about?" a frantic sounding Naruto asked, his eyes still darting around. Fukasaku jumped onto the blonde's lap and grabbed his face. When Naruto instinctively went to smack the webbed hands away, Fukasaku spoke.

"Easy there, boyo," the old toad said, "Let me get a good look at them peepers...Hmm...Yes, yes...These be the Uzugan, the swirling eyes from the Uzu no Kuni. And here I thought the Uzumaki clan that carried these eyes died out millennia ago."

Naruto blinked, "I...I have a clan?"

"Aye, ya do, boyo. Or rather, ya did," the toad said, releasing his face, "The Uzumaki that had the Toad clan's summoning contract died out during the Uzu Civil War nearly three centuries ago. The Renningan Uzumaki took full claim over the name and banished the Toad clan from Uzu no Kuni. We migrated to Hi no Kuni and the rest be history. But here ya are, a single pure heir to the Uzumaki name...ain't got the red hair though...looks more like..."

Jiraiya slapped a hand around the toad's mouth before he could leak out any important information. Naruto seemed confused from the lack of sound coming from the toad.

"Where'd the old toad go? Ero-sennin, did you dismiss him?" Naruto asked. The older toad bit the white haired man's hand causing the man to scream like a girl in pain. The toad sent a glare at Jiraiya.

"He deserves ta know his heritage, Jiraiya-boyo," Fukasaku said quietly with slight anger in his voice. Naruto's mouth popped open as his slightly enhanced hearing caught what the toad said.

"Y-You know my pa-parents?" Naruto said. Jiraiya glared at the old toad.

"He isn't ready," the Toad Sage said, "Maybe once he masters this...Uzugan as you call it, but not now, Fukasaku-san."

"Feh, you just wait until I tell Ma. Your head'll be on a platter faster than you can say 'dig in'. If you'll excuse me, I must tell the prophet about this," Fukasaku said before turning back to Naruto, "Nice meeting you boyo, hope to see ya at the mountain soon. Good luck with them peepers, you'll need it."

Naruto blinked before he heard a puff of smoke and glared in the direction he thought Jiraiya was at. Jiraiya glared back at the boy who was only looking away from his face by a few centimeters.

"Like I told the old toad," Jiraiya said, "You are not ready, gaki. You have a while to go if your eyes are what I think they are. Now, you wanna know who your parents were, right?"

Naruto nodded, the glare vanishing and being replaced with a small look of hope. Tsunade and Jiraiya felt their throats tighten at the desperation that was behind it. The poor boy looked like he'd do anything, despite his lack of sight, in order to discover who his parents were.

"I'll tell you," Jiraiya said, "_If_ you can master your new kekkei genkai in three years."

"Three? I can do it in one!" Naruto said; determination and confidence in his voice. Tsunade smiled at it and ruffled his hair, earning an annoyed grunt from the blonde.

"You'll have three to figure everything out about it," Jiraiya said, "Because in a few months, I'm taking you away for three years."

"What?" Naruto asked, "Why? Why can't I train here, Ero-sennin?"

A fist was implanted on the blonde's skull and Jiraiya scowled, "Show some respect, brat. The reason I'm taking you with me is because I'm going to make you my apprentice."

Naruto's jaw went through the bed and onto the floor. Become Jiraiya's apprentice? It'd definitely be the chance of a lifetime, and his hero the Yondaime Hokage trained under Jiraiya's guidance, him in turn having trained his lazy sensei Kakashi. Naruto beamed.

"I'll do it!" Naruto said with a grin, "This is going to be awesome! I'll get stronger and I have a kekkei genkai! When I get back, I can definitely get Sasuke-teme to return–"

"That's another thing," Jiraiya interrupted, "You have to give up on getting Sasuke back. He's nothing more than a traitor...you have to accept that he's not going to come back."

Naruto's smile faltered and the determined look returned once again, "Then I'll take him home, even if I have to break every bone in his body."

"It's not that simple, Naruto," Tsunade said, "What Sasuke did...it's unforgivable. It's punishable by death. If you bring him here, I'll have no choice but to put him on the chopping block."

Naruto frowned and looked down before raising his head, "Then I'll just have to end it in battle. I think he'd rather go down fighting than being executed...man, how am I going to explain that to Sakura-chan?"

"This isn't important right now, brat," Jiraiya said getting a small glare from the blonde, "Look, all I'm saying is–"

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune cried, barging in through the door, "We have a survivor from the Oto squad that was sent to retrieve Sasuke. She's critical! We need your help!"

Tsunade stood up and rushed from the door, talking with Shizune over the situation of the patient. Naruto sighed and rubbed his eyes, feeling a warm wet substance on his cheek. He pulled his hand away before rolling the substance between his fingers. He lifted the tip of his finger to his nose and sniffed it before tasting it with the tip of his tongue. His eyes widened in the realization that it was blood.

"Ero-sennin?" Naruto said, earning the white haired man's attention. Jiraiya was writing note in his book as seeing his student gave him an idea for a blind boy who would be pitied by many women and would show his gratitude in bed. His perverted grin was unseen by Naruto and thus he ignored the boy before he resumed writing.

Naruto's left eye twitched in annoyance, "I can _hear_ your giggles, Ero-sennin. Stop ignoring me before I maim you."

"And _how_ are you going to do that?" Jiraiya asked with a smirk, "You can't even see me, how can you hope to-Shit!"

Jiraiya just barely dodged before a kunai imbedded itself in the wall behind him. He looked back at the blind blonde and stuttered. Naruto shrugged with a grin.

"I gotta get used to fighting blind sooner or later. Outcomes in battle are not always a one-hundred percent thing," the blonde said, "I'll work on my aim first. Now, just keep talking so I can find you."

Jiraiya grinned as he realized his student couldn't hit him if he couldn't hear him. He simply put his perverted nature under control before he resumed writing. A tingling in the back of his head alerted him to a flying utensil approaching him at a high speed and he dodged to the right this time. He looked behind him to see a fork imbedded in the wall, parallel as to where his heart used to be. Jiraiya looked back at Naruto with wide eyes. The blonde had a small smile.

"Chakra enhanced hearing," Naruto said, "If I'm correct, the last sentence you were writing was, 'Make the hero blonde or brunette?' or something along those lines."

"Kid that's deadly," Jiraiya said with wide eyes before a perverted grin covered his face, "Do you know how useful that could be for my research? We could find out what women like in bed! The possibilities are endless!"

A spoon found itself lodged in the wall parallel to where Jiraiya's head used to be before he ducked. The white haired man grinned, "Ah...a blush? So my student _is _one of us!"

The food tray beside Naruto's bed grazed Jiraiya's ear and he grinned again, "That's not a no, gaki."

* * *

"Ugh...what...Kidomaru?" a red haired girl groaned as she blinked and looked up at a fuzzy outline of someone with a pineapple-like hairstyle.

"Troublesome," a familiar, yet unwanted, voice muttered. The red-headed girl blinked and rubbed her eyes before glaring at the pineapple haired boy.

"You son of a bitch!" she roared, reaching for the boy's neck, "You and your fucking Suna whore broke my flute! I'll fucking kill you, you shit eating motherfucking bastard!"

"Lie down," Tsunade ordered, forcing the red-headed girl to lie down with a well-placed shove on her shoulder, "You've just woken up from a five day coma and your left leg is broken."

The girl growled before looking at the one who spoke and she paled, "Y-You're...You're Tsunade..."

Tsunade grinned, "I am. I'm also your doctor. Now, lie back down and shut up."

"Fucking bossy old hag," the girl cursed under her breath, earning a harsh glare from the Hokage, before doing as she was told.

Tsunade then turned to Shikamaru, "What's her name?"

"Oi! I can answer myself," the girl said before earning a glare from the blonde woman.

"Rest. Now," Tsunade ordered before looked back at the Nara heir expectantly.

"She said her name was Tayuya," Shikamaru said lazily, "She's easily high chunin, low jonin level and she's a genjutsu specialist. Her ability to create elaborate strategies is troublesome; she had me fooled every now and again. With her curse seal activated, I'd say she has the skill of a seasoned jonin. She lacks in close range combat and her defensive techniques are low in number."

"Is she a threat to us now?" Tsunade asked him, further irking Tayuya with the fact that she wasn't allowed to answer questions based on herself. Shikamaru shook his head.

"I don't think so," the lazy chunin said, "If anything, she's about as harmless as a butterfly. She may be quite useful if we can manage to turn her to our side, although, you won't catch any of the Retrieval Squad backing your decision. Myself included."

"Like hell I will!" Tayuya shouted, "If you think for once that I'm going to betray Orochimaru–"

"Take a look at where you are, girl," Tsunade interrupted her, "You're in Konoha with the Godaime Hokage as your physician. Orochimaru left you for dead under a destroyed forest of trees. I'd say your best decision would be to provide information with us and stay alive. We'll even grant you protection from a Konoha shinobi. I know just who to give the job to, too."

Tayuya was speechless. To be free from Orochimaru's hold...it was a dream come true. Despite popular belief, Orochimaru was not above taking advantage of his subordinates. Taking advantage meaning, dragging them kicking and screaming into his private chambers to indulge in his S&M fantasies. It was a horror Tayuya risked every time she failed a mission. She had been close to death after one session and Kabuto had barely been able to stabilize her. But betraying Orochimaru and leaving his village meant death to registered Otogakure shinobi, which she was, and being one of his personal guards...her death would _not_ be quick _or_ painless.

Tayuya looked up at the Hokage and put her mask of anger on her face, "Fine. I'll be your fucking snitch. But you'd better keep your word about that bodyguard!"

* * *

-Next Day-

"And you want me to be a bodyguard...why?" The blinded Naruto asked Tsunade without looking at her. He was currently exploring the use of brail written scrolls, trying to make heads and tails of the language. He had dark blue scrubs on and his headband was hanging loosely around his neck.

"From what Jiraiya said, you're much more skilled at detecting threats than you ever were when you could see," Tsunade said, "Besides, without seeing her, you might be more obligated to guard her."

"And I need to guard her because...?" Naruto asked. Tsunade felt a vein throbbing as Naruto replied in a smart ass manner again. He really became quite bitter since the (hopefully temporary) loss of his sight.

"I'm not going to lie to you," Tsunade said restraining her anger, "She's one of the Sound Four that assisted Sasuke in his escape."

Naruto's teeth clicked in agitation when she mentioned Sasuke's name. He had forgiven Sasuke for the outcome of their battle, but he hadn't forgiven him for betraying the friendship they had. It hurt. It hurt a lot to come to terms with having your best friend being labeled a nuke-nin. He understood how Jiraiya felt now, why the old man had such a disappointment when he was informed of the curse mark on Sasuke's neck. Naruto rolled the scroll up before 'looking' at Tsunade, slightly creeping the Hokage out with the accuracy of his gaze, perhaps only being off her eyes by mere millimeters.

"Who is she?" he asked. Tsunade smiled slightly as she realized Naruto was coming to terms with what happened and was moving on.

"Her name is Tayuya," the Hokage said and at his raised eyebrow she elaborated, "She was the flute playing redhead."

Naruto dipped his head in thought, not bothering to close his eyes before looking back up at Tsunade, "I remember her. Shikamaru fought her. Had a hard time if I remember what he said to me a few days ago. She was quite the looker last I saw...You didn't hear me say that."

"Noted," Tsunade said, agitated that Jiraiya had planted seeds in Naruto's head already. She rubbed her temples and looked at the blonde before finally asking, "How are you so good at being blind?"

"You would be too if this was your third time," Naruto muttered, shocking the Hokage. He turned and stood wobbly on the floor before walking to the door and righting himself using the doorknob. The blonde looked back at his 'grandmother' and said, "If you want more information on it, ask Dr. Ken Ishi. He was my doctor Jiji assigned to me when I was seven, he knows all about my past medical records. Please just take me to this girl's room, Baa-chan."

Tsunade made a note of the doctor's name before nodding and walking over to the blonde, placing her hand on his shoulder and leading him out of the door and down the hall. Naruto seemed completely calm despite being in utter pain the day before. He seemed to come to terms with being blind...and apparently it wasn't the first time. She led Naruto past the food court and the blonde covered his nose, earning a confused look from the Hokage.

"I'm enhancing my other senses with chakra," Naruto elaborated, "It's really loud and the smell is overbearing."

Tsunade knocked on Tayuya's hospital door and called into it, "You're not indisposed are you, girl?"

"No you fucking old hag," the girl's voice called back, "I can barely fucking walk! How the Hell am I supposed to be 'indisposed' if I can't fucking walk to the fucking bathroom to take a fucking shit?"

"Well she seems friendly," Naruto muttered. Tsunade smirked and opened the door, revealing a pissed off looking Tayuya. She looked at the blonde boy in question as he seemed to be staring at her.

"What the fuck are you staring at, shithead?" she asked with a sneer. Naruto smirked with a prankish twinkle in his eye.

"Nothing," he said, not moving his eyes. Tayuya scowled.

"Bullshit," she said, "Stop staring at me dammit!"

"I'm not staring at you."

"You fucking are so! Now knock it off before I chop your balls off and shove em down your throat!"

"I'm not staring."

"Don't play like you aren't you fucking prick!"

"But I'm not."

"You say you're not fucking staring one more fucking time and I swear to Kami I'll fucking castrate you!"

Naruto shrugged, "Ok. I'm not staring. It's impossible to stare when you can't see."

Tayuya was about to retort when she heard him say he wasn't staring again when his last sentence ran through her mind. She looked at Tsunade who was trying not to burst out in laughter.

"What the fuck's the idea?" Tayuya asked with a glare, "Giving me a blind bodyguard? You call yourself a Kage? Do you know how fucking retarded that sounds?"

Tsunade looked at Naruto and said, "I think you two will get along splendidly. I've got some paperwork to do, so good luck. Don't kill her."

"Whatever Baa-chan," Naruto said, walking into the room, "Just send someone here with a bowl of Ayame-nee-chan's miso ramen and I'll be fine."

"If you say so brat," Tsunade said as she walked away. Naruto turned and shut the door before turning in the direction Tayuya was said to be.

"So what now?" He asked the redheaded girl. Tayuya's eye twitched.

"She's fucking serious? Oh that's fucking great," Tayuya groaned as her head flopped back onto the pillow, "A fucking handicapped shithead is going to be my bodyguard. And me, I'm a fucking cripple so if anyone truly wanted to, they could kill me easily. Just fucking great."

Naruto's teeth clicked in irritation, "You want to see how useful I am? Fine. Give me your fork you aren't using. It's on your left."

"I know where it...How did you know where it was?" Tayuya asked with narrowed eyes. Naruto pinched his nose in irritation.

"I know because I've been in this hospital for a good portion of my life," the blonde grumbled, "Please just give me the damn fork. I'm NOT in the mood."

Tayuya smirked at the vulgarity snuck into his sentence and tossed the fork to him, "Now what Shithead? Gonna throw the fork at the wall? Ooo...careful that you don't throw it out the window!"

Her mocking laughter was cut off when she heard a 'twang' and saw the fork imbedded to the right of her head. She looked back to see that the blonde had a smirk on his face. Tayuya narrowed her eyes.

"So you try and kill me already, eh?" she said, "Well I'm not going down without a fight!"

Before she could even try to get up, Naruto had a hand on her shoulder, "Whoa easy there, killer. I was just trying to prove a point. You don't have to worry about me killing you. Baa-chan says you're going to give us information on Orochimaru-teme's village, so I have a reason to keep you alive."

"And when there isn't a reason? You gonna kill me cuz I helped that faggy Uchiha leave?" Tayuya challenged. The blonde snorted before walking over to a chair, using a wall as a guide, and returned to the redhead's side. He sat down on her right and looked at her, unknowingly shocking her with his accuracy.

Tayuya felt her heartbeat quicken when she looked into the pale purple eyes that had swirling lines in the irises. The redhead swallowed hard under the gaze that seemed to hold back several hidden emotions along with a sincere look hidden behind it. She mentally berated herself for feeling such a way with a boy, who was most likely a few years younger than her, looking at her. Especially after what happened in Tsuchi no Kuni.

She was snapped from her thoughts before they could turn dark by the blonde's voice, "Baa-chan said that if you cooperated and proved you would be a loyal asset to the village, she might consider making you an honorary Konoha shinobi. And with our loss of shinobi during the Oto-Suna invasion, I figure we could use any and all recruits we can find."

Tayuya pondered this for a moment before asking a question that came to mind, "And if I don't pass her retarded shinobi standards? What happens to me then, shithead?"

The face on the blonde's face was priceless to the redhead when she referred to him as shithead again, "You're not even going to ask me for my name are you? You're just going to let me go on and on about Baa-chan's plans?"

"Bet your damn ass I am," Tayuya replied with a grin, "I don't give a fuck who you are, I just wanna know what the old bitch has in mind."

"Well since you asked _oh-so-nicely_," Naruto said sarcastically, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. Baa-chan said she'd seal off your chakra coils and make you impossible to become a threat to our village if you didn't pass her requirements. Happy?"

"She can't fucking do that!" Roared the obviously upset redhead, "What gives that bitch the fucking right to–?"

"Tayuya, be quiet," the blonde ordered in a calm voice. She glared at him and was met with an intense glare of his own.

_How the Hell can he even glare back at me if he's blind?_ Tayuya thought. She shut her mouth and bit back several insults as Naruto's blind glare seemed to promise immense unpleasant scenarios if she spoke again.

"Good," the blonde said, lightening his glare before speaking again, "First, don't call baa-chan a bitch. Old hag is fine. Second, she's the Hokage, and just because I can disrespect her, does NOT mean you can."

"Fuck you, shithead!" Tayuya growled, "I'll do what I damn want whenever the fuck I feel like it, and if I want to call that hag a bitch, I will!"

"You _won't_," Naruto growled back, the swirls in his eyes spinning slowly as his eyes narrowed, "Not in this village. Orochimaru probably didn't care what you said about him behind his back, but that's because he doesn't care about any of you and in turn none of you cared for him. You all feared him, with good reason. But if you go around disrespecting the Hokage in Konoha, the villagers and shinobi will not take too kindly to it. And as your bodyguard, I can't let you take that risk. Get me?"

Tayuya clenched her teeth and gritted out, "Fine, shithead."

"Good," Naruto said, his whole demeanor relaxing before he smiled at her, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some well-deserved rest I have to work on. The door is shut and I'll know if it opens. If I don't wake up in twenty minutes or if you need something, wake me up."

"Whatever Shithead," Tayuya grumbled as she lied back down and turned away from him. His eyes were definitely something to get used to. Light snores from behind her alerted her that the blonde had fallen asleep. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Tayuya rolled over once again to get a good look at her bodyguard.

The bandages evident under his scrubs meant he just returned from battle. The small cuts on his arms seemed to be stitching themselves up slowly much to the girl's amazement, and her more girlish side noticed he was well toned. He was muscular, but he had a more wiry build than what she had seen in Oto. Then again, for all she knew, beneath his scrubs he could have hidden a gut. Tayuya shook those thoughts and looked back up at the blonde's face.

She noticed the way the blonde hair fell in front of his eyes, giving them a slightly shadowed look and making him seem even more mysterious than he already was. Tayuya looked down at his cheeks and studied the weird whisker marks that were hard to miss. They seemed to be scars of some kind, or perhaps even a birthmark. The specs on Konoha said there was a clan that used animals in their attacks, so maybe he was from there. Or perhaps they were just décor he used to frighten his opponents in battle.

That last suggested thought made Tayuya bite back a snicker. For those marks to cause fear within other warriors they'd have to be thicker and he'd have to be less...childlike. The marks did give him a somewhat cute look. Had she been a normal teenage civilian, she might have thought he was rather cute.

Tayuya turned bright red before she turned away and resumed facing the wall. Her thoughts were jumbled and she bit her lip in an effort to get them sorted out without gaining a massive headache. Eventually, the light snores emitting from the blonde soothed Tayuya enough to relax her and even allow her to fall asleep. The final thoughts in her mind revolving around the blind blonde shinobi called Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

-Weeks Later-

"You can't go in," a blonde teen in scrubs said while standing in front of a door with his eyes shut, "The boss has a bodyguard mission and Baa-chan doesn't want anyone to bug them until she finishes her surgeries for the day."

"Aw come on," a pink haired girl said while standing next to a platinum blonde girl her age, "Let us pass, baka. Tsunade-sama said you could have visitors!"

"The boss could four days ago when his assignment was in surgery," the clone corrected, keeping his eyes shut and his tone being slightly annoyed, "Now please leave, Sakura-chan, Ino. Boss is sleeping."

"The hell with this," the pinkette muttered before smashing her fist into the clone's face, dispelling it with a poof of smoke. The platinum blonde, Ino, looked at her friend with a grin.

"Just had to go and use that freakish strength of yours, eh Forehead?" she asked. Sakura huffed.

"Well if he'd just let us pass..." Sakura said as she opened the door and walked in. She jumped back in fear when three kunai lodged themselves on her left. The pink haired girl looked at the standing blonde, his eyes being hidden by his hair and his hands holding several kunai.

"Na-ru-to!" Sakura growled, stepping forward to give her teammate a bash in the head, "What are you do-AH!"

She couldn't finish as three kunai embedded themselves a couple of inches from her feet. Ino stepped forward with her hands raised.

"Whoa, Naruto-baka!" the blonde said, "Calm down! Forehead isn't here to fight with you over not bringing Sasuke-kun back."

A growl emitted from the golden haired blonde and he lifted his head slightly as he sniffed the air. He slipped his drawn kunai back into his pouch before returning to his spot in the chair and forming the Tiger seal.

"**Shadow Clone Jutsu**," Naruto said quietly, forming three clones, all of their eyes shutting immediately and getting into a defensive stance. The original focused his gaze toward the stirring redhead in the bed.

"Shithead," The girl muttered sleepily as she started to rise, "What the fuck was that?"

"Nothing Tayuya," the blonde said, exhaustion slightly evident in his voice, "Just rest. You've got a surgery tomorrow."

"F-*yawn*-Fuck you, shithead," The redhead yawned as her tense form seemed to relax under Naruto's gaze. A few seconds later, her breathing steadied and Naruto turned to look at Ino and Sakura.

"Get out," he grunted, "Before I force you out."

Sakura and Ino felt their jaws drop. Naruto, the nicest guy in the world despite being a fashion-less loser, was _threatening_ them! Sakura growled in fury before she was face to face with a clone, who's eyes were shut. She gasped at the dark lines beneath the blonde's shut eyes and looked back at the sitting original.

"Naruto...are you ok?" she asked. The clone grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the door.

"Just leave Sakura," the clone growled, "We aren't in the mood to talk about the mission for the traitor."

The clone was suddenly dispersed before Sakura could register its' words. Another clone grabbed both her arms and forced her out, with another clone forcing Ino out as well. The two clones then shut the door on the confused girls' faces before locking it and dispelling themselves. Naruto yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"Ugh...two and a half days without sleep is murder," he muttered. He opened his eyes and whistled lowly.

He had discovered a way to get his eyesight back, in a way. By increasing his chakra in his ears by three times the normal amount and sending some chakra to his eyes, he could make out the outlines of his surroundings, if there was sound. He only had to whistle once every twenty minutes before the sound dissipated and his newfound 'sight' stopped.

He had discovered this through a shouting match between himself and Tayuya a few weeks ago, who had been refusing any meals that a nurse brought them. She had thought they were poisoned, but when he tried to eat them, she'd bit his head off with curses and threats. Eventually the blonde had had enough and started shouting back. After a few rounds of insults, Tayuya crossed the line, calling him a blind motherless bastard, not knowing he actually _was_ one. A flare of his chakra and an obscene run through of insults emitting from the blonde's mouth later, Naruto had discovered his cure to blindness.

He then thanked Tayuya, blood tears of joy coming from his eyes as he hugged her, much to her displeasure. After the thanking had finished, Naruto summoned Gamakichi, who had been informed of his blindness through other toads and expressed his anger towards the two Uchiha who caused his friend/summoner pain, and asked him to retrieve Jiraiya from whatever perverted thing he was doing. Gamakichi gladly accepted and vanished in a poof of smoke. Tayuya felt gob-smacked that the blonde that was her body guard could summon toads and demanded answers.

_

* * *

_

Flashback

"_What the fuck was that, Shithead? A fucking Toad summon?" Tayuya asked in shock. Naruto groaned._

"_Would it kill you to call me 'Naruto'?" the blonde asked. Tayuya smirked, which he could hear in her snarky response of, "Maybe."_

_The blonde picked a breadstick up from the food tray and bit into it. After a few moments of chewing and swallowing he said, "Well, food's safe. Unless you're asking for a five star meal, this won't kill ya. It's better than whatever I got when I came in here in the past."_

_Tayuya narrowed her eyes before hesitantly grabbing the fork and eating the noodles before her. She took a small bite and waited a few moments before starting to eat like her life depended on it. She paused in mid bite at the sound of a chuckle and looked at the blonde who was looking in her direction. He smirked._

"_You look hungry," Naruto said, earning a blush from the redhead._

_Tayuya swallowed her food before muttering, "Sh-Shut up, shithead. And answer my question, dammit!"_

"_Ok, Ok, relax, Tayuya," the blonde replied. He sat in his chair and took another bite of his breadstick. Unbeknownst to him, Tayuya looked at him expectantly as she took bites of her food._

"_It was a Toad summon," Naruto said after swallowing his bite, "His name's Gamakichi and he's probably now the closest thing I have to a best friend."_

"_Seriously?" Tayuya asked with a smirk around a mouthful of food before swallowing, "That's fucking sad, Shithead."_

"_Shut up," Naruto shot back with a small smile, "Believe it or not, my first best friend was The Traitor."_

_Tayuya choked on her food before pointing at Naruto accusingly, "I KNEW you looked familiar! You were that annoying blonde idiot from that group that came after the fag!"_

"_Yeah, that was me," Naruto said chuckling, "I guess I have mellowed out after losing my eyesight. Maybe my kekkei genkai affected me in a way I haven't discovered yet."_

"_Kekkei genkai?" Tayuya asked, confused._

_Naruto palmed himself in the face before smiling sheepishly, "Duh, I forgot to tell you why my eyes are purple with swirls within the irises. Well apparently I belong to an old clan called Uzumaki. I don't know whether I got it from my mother or my father, though."_

"_What are you, an orphan or some shit like that?" Tayuya asked. Naruto's smile faltered slightly._

"_Yeah..."_

_Flashback end_

* * *

Needless to say, their conversation ended there with Naruto not wanting to discuss anything else on the matter and Tayuya not knowing what to say.

Just as the blonde was going to resume his light rest, the redhead in bed rolled over to look at him.

"What's wrong, Tayuya?" the blonde asked quietly, seeing the slight frown on the girl's face. The redhead chewed on her lip for a minute before looking back at her bodyguard.

"This...is my last surgery, right?" she asked. Naruto nodded.

"Baa-chan thinks so," the blinded boy said, "The surgery will be the most dangerous one of the past four you've been in, but you're survival chances are extremely high, seeing as she's performing it herself. The recovery time will be quick too, so you'll be able to get back on your feet in about four weeks."

"Damn right!" Tayuya cheered before her mood turned somber again, "...Shithead?"

Naruto arched a brow, "Yes?"

"...Never mind Shithead," the redhead said turning away. Naruto heard her heartbeat quicken and he ruffled his brow before smiling as he figured out (at least he thought) what she was going to say.

"Don't worry Tayuya," Naruto said reaching over and patting her shoulder, "I'll still be your friend even after this mission is over. You might be our next genjutsu mistress, ne?"

The girl smiled slightly before turning it into a smirk, "Yeah...Fuck, are you sure I can't fucking eat? I'm starving!"

The blonde laughed, not knowing that the girl was smiling at his carefree, yet tired, laugh. The redhead had been studying the blonde for the past few weeks that they were stuck together. He seemed happy, but to one who wore a mask of anger and vulgarity to hide her feelings, Tayuya could tell the blonde was hiding more than she was. The fake smiles made her sick; they didn't look natural at all on his face. His eyes, albeit being a different color than when she first saw him, looked normal and happy to those who didn't know better, but Tayuya knew better. Behind the purple swirls was a saddened depth that even she herself didn't have.

_I'll find out why you're worse off than I am, Shithead,_ Tayuya thought, _And maybe I can do that if I become a, can't believe I'm even thinking about this, fucking kunoichi of this tree-fucker filled village._

**

* * *

**

AN: The first of my Tayuya/Naruto fic. Please Read and Review. Oh, and I would like to say a big thanks to all my Ame's jinchuriki readers. I'm going to officially work on chapter 17 right after this gets posted. PEACE!


	2. Second Chance

**Ok so...not really any ideas on what to do for chapter 17 of Ame's Jinchuriki. Give me some feedback on that if you get any ideas. But enough of this, let's get this fic started.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, he wouldn't change much...I'd just kill Sasuke off early 3XD**

**Chapter 2: **_**Second Chance**_** by Shinedown**

* * *

"You're very lucky, Tayuya," Tsunade said from her spot next to the redhead's bed, "The operation was more than successful and you'll be able to leave the hospital within the week. Perhaps even tomorrow."

"Final-fucking-ly!" Tayuya cried out in relief, "Thought I'd be stuck here eating the shit they call hospital food for the rest of my life!"

Naruto snickered from his spot on the wall. The blonde had his eyes shut, practicing with his newfound 'sight'. He discovered that he could whistle and direct chakra to only his eyes, allowing him to see without having to use his ears. Plus he seemed to have a better 'sight' range than a Hyuuga and even more sensitive ears than an Inuzuka if what Shizune had said while she examined him when Tayuya was in the OR.

Naruto looked over at the angry faced redhead and focused on the sounds coming from her. It seems in the time he did get sleep; he subconsciously learned what his Uzugan could do. He knew from testing his wall-walking exercise that he had almost complete chakra control. Shizune even called a Hyuuga nurse into the room to check his chakra pathways, everyone (himself included) was shocked to learn his chakra seemed to be calm and not raging like a river. Even doing the **Shadow Clone Jutsu** came easier. Hell, he discovered he could make a clone with a simple thought. When Jiraiya learned of this, he instructed the boy to make a good dozen of them and then took them away for some special training. Naruto knew it would be training with Kyuubi's chakra, but he found it to be pointless.

If what the Fox said was true, Naruto could very well be the next Sennin.

* * *

Flashback

_Naruto walked through the less murky hallway of his mind towards the cage that held the Kyuubi. The large beast growled at the blonde before he stepped into the light. Once he did so however, the large demon silenced and even backed away from the cage's bars._

"_**Those eyes...worse than **_**Madara's**_**...stop looking at me with them!" **__The fox growled before Naruto narrowed his eyes and the swirls spun, causing the Fox to become silent._

"_What do you know about my eyes, Kyuubi-baka?" Naruto asked the demon, taking advantage of its fear and insulting it. The Fox released a small whimper before shrinking slightly, becoming the size of a full grown Inuzuka dog._

"_**I...have only seen those eyes once...before my master, The Sage of Six Paths, released me to the world,"**__ Kyuubi admitted, its booming voice having quieted to one of respect, or even fear, __**"The Sage backed away from the bearer of the eyes. I'll never forget the beating all nine of us took before we were dispersed by The Sage...he then foolishly tried to conquer this new foe, only to fall in battle. The foe took him as her bitch-"**_

"_Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Naruto said, holding his hands up, "BACK UP! My eyes come from a kunoichi that BEAT The Sage of Six Paths? You're sure it was a girl? Cuz I met this guy once and he looked a lot like a girl."_

_Kyuubi snorted, __**"Do you seriously doubt me, the Kyuubi no Kitsune? Foolish boy, despite being a demon, I know which sex is strongest. The male have huge egos and thus are often more portrayed as the 'stronger' sex, but the female is obviously the one in more power."**_

_Naruto blinked before smirking, "So which are you?"_

"_**I am both, and yet I am neither,"**__ the Kyuubi replied, __**"As a being of pure Yokoi, I can choose. For a bearer of those eyes, I'm surprised you didn't figure that out sooner. But seeing as you have those eyes...I will now submit my chakra to you whenever necessary. Albeit reluctantly. I've seen the power those eyes are capable of, they could destroy a biju if fully unleashed."**_

_Naruto's jaw popped open, "A-Are you serious?"_

"_**What do you think happened to the Juubi?"**__ Kyuubi snorted, __**"It's true that The Sage became the first jinchuriki, but they never said who proceeded with the sealing."**_

"_I thought The Sage did it himself...oh no way, they lied about that TOO?" Naruto shouted in disbelief. Kyuubi merely smirked at him as a response. Naruto held his head before looking back at the fox._

"_I just thought of something...why can I see you? Aren't I blind?" the blonde asked. Kyuubi grumbled in annoyance._

"_**Technically, yes,"**__ Kyuubi said, __**"But the human mind is ten times stronger than the body itself, an amazing thing if you ask me, and thus in here, your mind, you have all senses. It is YOUR mind after all."**_

"_That makes sense..." Naruto mused. The fox rolled its eyes. As it lied down, it glared back at him._

"_**I will only be submissive for so long...I will find a way to be free, boy,"**__ Kyuubi warned before a smirk adorned its face, __**"Unless you wish to make a deal?"**_

_Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Goodbye Kyuubi."_

_Flashback end_

* * *

"SHITHEAD!" Tayuya's voice rung in his ear. Naruto groaned and covered his ears before glaring at the redhead, his eyes swirling angrily. He used the vibrations to see that the room was empty once again, aside from the two of them.

"Dammit Tayuya, what?" he asked rubbing his head, "Do you need to make me deaf, too?"

"I considered it," the redhead replied with a smirk, "But I, for one, would like to get out of here!"

"What did Baa-chan say?"

Tayuya huffed, "The Old Hag said I could leave after lunch...but it's 11:30 so I thought..."

"She meant we could leave _tomorrow_ after lunch," Naruto clarified. Earning a scowl, Naruto smirked at her, "You know, you'd be a lot more attractive if you smiled for once."

"What was that?" Tayuya hissed threateningly. Naruto swallowed and raised his hands in defense.

"Nothing, nothing, sorry," the blonde said as he thought, _Kyuubi was right...Women definitely have the power...I wonder why though..._

Tayuya smirked, "Damn right! The least you could do is bring me a goddamn wheelchair. I want to get out and stretch my legs; this fucking bed is driving me insane!"

Naruto sighed and closed his eyes, creating a shadow clone. He then turned to the clone and said, "Go to Nee-chan's office and ask for a wheelchair. And put your headband on your eyes so no one can see them."

"Right Boss," the clone said as it did as it was told before it left out of the room and to its' destination. Naruto heard a snort from his charge and turned back to her.

"What is it now?" He asked, slightly irritated. Naruto then blinked. When did _he_ get irritated? Usually he only had two settings for the village, Hyper Naruto, which was a good 23 hours of a day, or Depressed Naruto, which barely made up an hour in his apartment where he was alone.

"Your clone," Tayuya replied, snapping the blonde from his thoughts, "You didn't see it but he was wearing a faggy necklace."

Naruto arched a brow and pulled the Shodai Hokage's necklace up from beneath his headband, "You mean this?"

Tayuya grinned, "So you _do_ wear jewelry! I knew you and The Fag had a fling!"

"...it was one kiss dammit..." Naruto growled, "A kiss that should have NEVER happened. And it was something Baa-chan told you while she was drunk and I was getting lunch. You should have _NEVER_ found out about."

"You say that now," Tayuya teased with an evil grin. Naruto clenched his teeth.

He glared at the redhead before going back to the original subject, "This is the Shodai Hokage's necklace. Baa-chan wore it for a good portion of her life before she gave it to me after I beat her in a bet."

Tayuya scoffed, "Oh _wow_. You beat the 'Legendary Sucker' in a bet. _How fucking shocking_."

Clenching his teeth harder than he realized was possible, Naruto shot back, "I kicked Kabuto's ass with a **Rasengan** and took the Kusangi through my liver in order to win this bet."

Tayuya blinked before outright laughing, "Oh man, that's a good one Shithead! Surviving an attack from the Molester's personal dildo and ass slave!"

Naruto growled before dropping the necklace back to its place around his neck and held his left hand out with his palm up, "You don't believe me? I'll show you!"

Before Tayuya could reply, chakra erupted from the blonde and centered in his left palm. Naruto used his right hand to focus the chakra into a sphere shape. Tayuya's eyes widened as the sphere settled into something as big as her fist and the blonde ran towards the wall, shoving the sphere into it.

"**RASENGAN!**" Naruto shouted before the attack connected. A loud explosion was heard throughout the village and the attack shook the hospital's foundation. Tayuya coughed as she used her hand to clear the smoke from her face. She turned to glare at the blonde and cuss him out but then suddenly froze as her eyes widened once again.

The hole in the wall was easily three times the original attack's size and the wall across the next room had a dent within it along with a lot of shrapnel in it. The blonde was currently smirking in her direction and Tayuya looked from the hole to the smug blonde and back before she could even reply.

"...So maybe you survived against the Molester's ass-bitch," the redhead muttered, her eyes still wide before a smirk adorned her face, "Bet you can't do that shit again, Shithead."

"If he does it again, he's paying for the repairs!" An angry voice said from the doorway. Naruto swallowed and Tayuya grinned.

"Hi Hag/Baa-chan," the two replied in sync. They looked at each other, Naruto's eyes being a few inches off Tayuya's, before looking back at the angry blonde woman.

"Brat, I'm giving you three seconds to get the material needed to repair that wall," Tsunade said, raising her fist and cracking her knuckles, "One..."

A boom was heard as the blonde vanished, leaving only a smoke outline of where he once was, the fear evident on his face. Tsunade smirked and Tayuya outright laughed at his reaction. The two looked at each other before Tsunade activated the silencing seal that was in all Hospital rooms.

"So how are you feeling, Tayuya?" She asked as she took a seat to the redhead's right, "Any pains in your legs?"

"Fuck no, thank Kami," the girl in question replied before looking back at the wall, "...that wasn't even at its' strongest was it?"

Tsunade grinned, "So you _are_ a sensory type. You barely felt any chakra from the mass, and believed it to be weak, correct?"

Tayuya nodded before a musing look crossed her face, "The Molester told me about several techniques like that. He said that they required absolute chakra control in order to use them in their absolute efficiency, whatever the fuck that means..."

"It means that if Naruto had perfect control over his chakra, he would be able to destroy a building with that technique," Tsunade said. The redhead opened her mouth and shut it several times before a word finally came out.

"Fuck...Shithead wasn't lying about taking the Molester's dildo through the liver then was he?" she asked the medic. Tsunade contorted her face into a scowl.

"He did...I still owe Orochi-teme for that," the blonde growled before calming herself, "I take it you saw Oji-san's necklace and he told you how he acquired it then?"

Tayuya nodded again, "Yeah...damn, what can't Shithead do? Aside from see...but then again he found a way around that."

Tsunade arched a delicate brow before asking, "He did? How?"

"Some type of Echo-lo-something or some shit like that," the redhead replied with a shrug. Tsunade rubbed her head.

"Well I'm just glad he's managed to get you to cut down on swearing," Tsunade muttered earning a smirk from Tayuya.

"Shithead's gotten through to me slightly, but I've done the same to him," Tayuya said with a grin. Tsunade paled.

"You didn't..." the Hokage said, fearing the response.

"Oh I did," the redhead said with a accomplished grin, "That fucker knows some things that would make _me_ blush. And that's fucking saying something."

Tsunade put her head in her hand and moaned, "Oh god...now I have to worry about Jiraiya getting through to him! If you can, there's no stopping that pervert!"

Tayuya laughed at the Hokage's distressed form. The redhead hadn't felt so accomplished in such a long time, but then a thought revolving around her temporary bodyguard came to her mind. Her laughter stopped suddenly and she turned back to the muttering blonde woman.

"Oi, Hag?" she said, getting Tsunade's attention, "Why does Shithead wear a mask? He still upset that the Fag left him at the alter?"

Tsunade hid her surprise well, considering she's...been around for a while, it wasn't that hard to do it. She examined the redhead before her and saw she wasn't prying, but was genuinely curious about the boy she saw as a brother/son.

"It's something he has to discuss with you," Tsunade answered after a minute. Tayuya growled in frustration but accepted her response.

"But does it involve the Fag?" the redhead asked. Tsunade laughed.

"Not entirely," the Hokage replied, "But...The sad truth is Sasuke _was_ Naruto's best friend. Perhaps his only true friend."

Tayuya arched a brow, "No shit?"

"Yup."

"Damn...What a bitch," Tayuya said, "Shithead has to get over it though."

"Oh he has," Tsunade said with a dark look, "He's sworn to kill Sasuke on the battlefield."

"Goddamn," the redhead said with wide eyes,"Didn't think Shithead would have the balls to fucking kill Faggy boy."

* * *

Naruto paused outside the Hospital and clutched his ears. Was everything always so damn loud?

"So then Kur-kun got down on one knee and..."

"She took my leg and then pulled it back and then took my dick..."

"Oh my god! He didn't do what I think he did, did he?"

"He did! That two timing bastard! *sobbing*"

"...aruto! NARUTO!" a voice shouted from the side. Naruto brought his headband up over his eyes and turned to look towards the voice. The sounds assisted him with seeing and he turned to look at Team 8 walking towards him, with Kiba carrying Akamaru on head as usual.

"Kiba," Naruto greeted with a nod, "Hinata, Shino. Hello Kurenai-sensei."

"What are you doing with your headband, baka?" Kiba asked with a smirk. Naruto smiled slightly.

"I lost my sight in recovery," Naruto said, not completely telling the truth and yet not lying. It's not like anyone needed to know the truth just yet. Team 8 all looked at him in shock and pity. His smile dropped into a scowl and when Kiba went to place a hand on his shoulder Naruto smacked it away.

"I don't want your pity," the blonde growled, "And I don't need your sympathy. I want your help bringing the Uchiha to justice."

Kiba and Akamaru growled at the mention of the traitor and a buzzing could be heard from the stoic Aburame. Hinata looked pale, but Kurenai looked disgusted with Naruto.

_Tayuya said she's killed about two hundred people,_ the blonde thought, _Kakashi-sensei and Ero-sennin have probably killed their fair share...but I haven't killed anyone. Haku and Zabuza were the first actual kills I ever witnessed...I have to kill eventually...hopefully I can do it, that way I won't feel that bad about getting Sas-er, I mean, the Traitor. The way Kiba and Shino act, they've accepted the fact they might have to kill, so they're in...Hinata may be weird, but she's too gentle to actually kill someone, so she's out. But with how Kurenai-sensei is looking at me...hypocritical bitch..._

"Don't look at me like that, Kurenai-sensei," the blonde growled, shocking all of Team 8, "I heard your gasp and I can feel your glare. I've gotten pretty good at feeling glares, as you should know."

Kurenai felt bad for judging the blonde and made to apologize, but Naruto already leapt away. She knew how the boy was looked at, as she had joined the purple haired Tokubetsu jonin Mitarashi Anko more than once to look after him. The red eyed genjutsu mistress cursed her insensitivity and glanced again at the boy's fading silhouette, wishing she could apologize for her actions.

Hinata watched her crush leap to the next building before turning to her sensei, "W-What d-did Naruto-kun m-mean, Sensei?"

"I don't know, Hinata," Kurenai fibbed, "Maybe you should ask him."

"Naruto-san's reaction to blindness is appropriate," Shino said, "For having a single sense for so long, it would be similar as an Aburame to lose their hive or a Inuzuka to lose their companion."

Akamaru whined and Kiba looked solemn before growling, "It's Sasuke's fault, I'll bet. Hell, I'll bet that **Chidori **caused Naruto's blindness! Bastard!"

"Kiba!" Kurenai hissed, trying to keep control of her eccentric student. Kiba looked up at his sensei before sighing and bowing his head. Team 8 made a last glance at Naruto's last location before turning and heading towards their training ground. Half of the members determined to work on their skills and half worried about the now blind blonde that used to have a smile on his face.

* * *

-Next Day-

"Here you go Tayuya-san," Shizune said with a smile as she wheeled a wheelchair in for the redhead. Naruto subtly helped Tayuya sit in the chair, not doing much knowing she'd get upset. They were both still wearing hospital scrubs; Naruto's a dark blue while Tayuya had green.

"Thanks Shithead," Tayuya grunted out to Naruto as she stretched in the chair. She rubbed her legs and lifted one slowly before hissing in pain and clutching her leg. Naruto placed a comforting hand on her shoulder while Shizune administered a quick pain relieving jutsu on the redhead's legs.

"Don't try and move them for another day or so," Shizune instructed, "The chakra coils in your leg were pretty bad considering how you were...err...found, so they'll take at least another week before chakra will flow correctly through your legs."

"I'll make sure she doesn't strain herself, nee-chan," Naruto said grabbing the handles of her chair and wheeling her out the door. Once they were in the elevator, Naruto released his hold on the chair and stood to Tayuya's left.

The redhead looked up at the blind boy, "So...Shithead, how's the echolo-some-shit-like-that going?"

"Do you mean, _echolocation_, Tayuya-chan?" Naruto asked with a slight smirk. Tayuya narrowed her eyes.

"I told you not to call me that, Shithead," she growled.

"And I told you to stop calling me Shithead, but we can't get what we want, now can we?" Naruto replied. The redhead slugged him in the arm while his smirk grew.

"Just take me to this apartment of yours..." Tayuya grunted. Naruto's smile faltered again before his face became blank.

"Sure," the blonde replied. When the elevator dinged, Naruto let Tayuya wheel herself out before following at a relaxed pace. He winced when they stepped outside and covered his ear, something that didn't go unnoticed by the redhead.

"Oi, you ok, Shithead?" Tayuya asked. Naruto nodded while holding his head.

"Sensitive ears," he replied, getting a nod of understanding from the redhead. The two of them walked, or rolled in Tayuya's case, in a steady pace. Tayuya took the sights in remembering the details for an easier time when she had to walk around this place on her own.

"What a fuckin dump," Tayuya muttered. Naruto raised an eyebrow in amusement and she snorted, "Don't get me wrong Shithead. It's nice compared to the other shitholes I've been to, but it has that godforsaken 'homey' feeling about it that makes me sick."

Naruto mused this over before speaking, "I take it the feeling brings bad memories up?"

"None of your fucking business," Tayuya snapped. Naruto shrugged.

"Considering your sudden stopping of breath before your heartbeat sped up, I take it I guessed correctly," he said, "But I'll drop the subject...for now."

Tayuya grumbled to herself, "I liked you better when you were a fucking idiot."

"And I liked it better when I could see," Naruto snapped back harshly. Tayuya smirked.

"Your dark side is showing again," she said, causing the blonde to pause before scowling.

"Damn you," he muttered, trying to calm himself down while the redhead laughed. They walked in silence as Tayuya took the sights in again. As they neared the eastern district, she noticed more and more people glaring in her direction. She could tell though that most of the Konoha population didn't know who she was, aside from several shinobi, and thus the glares weren't directed at her. She looked back at the blonde, who had a fake smile on his face again. Tayuya frowned.

_Why the fuck is he wearing his mask now?_ She thought before she looked back to the civilians that were glaring in his direction.

_Does this have something to do with his mask? Why the hell are they glaring at him? I HATE not knowing things!_ Tayuya thought as a low growl emitted from her throat.

"Knock it off, Tayuya," Naruto grunted as he turned left down an alley. Tayuya gave him a look that said he was crazy before following with grumbles to herself about "dumb blind shitheads".

Naruto stopped in front of a door on the right of the alley and put his hand on one of the profanities spray-painted on it. Tayuya arched a brow as she read it.

"'Go back to the Hell you were spawned from, Demon Brat'?" she read questioningly before looking at Naruto and asked, "What the fuck?"

"Just another stupid villager," the blonde muttered, "It's about four weeks old...people haven't done this for a while...must be the invasion or the Traitor..."

The last bit was mumbled to himself, but Tayuya managed to make it out and pondered on it for a minute as Naruto opened the door. He walked in to the building and held the door open so Tayuya could wheel herself in.

"Bottom floor's yours if you want it," Naruto said, "I'll take one room though until your legs are healed and you can train again."

"Bottom floor?" Tayuya repeated, "Won't that piss the fucker that owns this place off?"

Naruto laughed, "Doubt it, seeing as _I_ own it."

Tayuya's jaw dropped, "You own this whole fucking thing? How the fuck...?"

"Sarutobi-jiji bought it for me when no one would take me in and the orphanage kicked me out," Naruto said, "It was falling apart, but I managed to fix it up over the past four years."

"Good to know who the fucking handyman is," Tayuya joked. Naruto smiled before turning and walking towards a door and opening it. Tayuya wheeled herself in and looked around before looking back at the blonde.

"Fucking great. Love the set up..." she drawled out sarcastically. The apartment was empty, nothing in it what-so-ever. Naruto chuckled and walked in behind her, leaning on the wall looking like his (super) perverted sensei.

"I'll ask Nee-chan for some furniture," Naruto said, before waving for her to follow him and led her down to a room in the far back and opening the door.

"I use this place right after a day of training," Naruto said, opening a door to a relaxed looking apartment, "Bathroom's on the right and the remote is usually on the left of the couch."

Tayuya gave him a blank stare before saying, "Shithead. I. Can't. Walk."

Naruto kicked himself before rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "Right...sorry, Tayuya-chan. Guess I'll be staying with you until you're allowed to walk again."

The redhead gave him a glare before replying through gritted teeth, "Fine. But if I wake up with you in the bed with me, _again_, you'll be missing something _very_ important."

"It was ONE time," Naruto said, turning his head away, cursing his echolocation for still being able to make out her face.

"One time too many," Tayuya growled rolling into the apartment. Naruto stayed outside the apartment for a minute before walking in behind her. He thought back to that incident a few weeks ago. He might not have remembered why he was in the bed with her, but he remembered when she woke him up.

Both times.

The first was during a dream of some sort. Or even a nightmare. Naruto chuckled remembering her cursing out her fallen comrades, who had apparently come back from the grave to kill her, before she clung to him, snapping him from his own ramen-filled dream. It was a good dream too: He finally made Hokage and the people thanked him by making him a Gamabunta sized bowl of ramen. Before he could take a bite, Tayuya's sudden clinging woke him. He was about to cuss her out before realizing she was whimpering in her sleep. Not knowing what to do, Naruto tried doing something he imagined a friend would do if you had a nightmare.

He hugged her.

And like a snap of his fingers, her whimpering and cussing stopped. Naruto swore he could make out a ghost of a smile on her face, but shrugged it off. He doubted Tayuya would smile in her sleep, he had never seen her do so before. There was always the possibility. He also whispered something to her, but had forgotten it due to the fact he said it in a sleep-ridden daze. After she was calmed for a good few minutes, Naruto allowed the sound of her even breathing and heartbeat to put him to sleep.

Sadly, he would be woken up for the second time, after a (thankfully) reasonable amount of rest, by the feeling of death and promised pain showering his sleeping figure.

"_The fuck are you doing in MY bed?"_ Tayuya had growled to him when he sent some chakra to his usually dark eyesight. He barely had enough time to scramble out of the bed and vanish to the other side of the room before she wailed on him mercilessly.

"Oi Shithead!" Tayuya called from the kitchen part of the small apartment, "Get in here and make some damn food! I've fucking starving!"

Naruto chuckled before walking to the kitchen and making dinner. A nice healthy cup of instant ramen.

Praise Kami.

* * *

-Hours later-

"You are so fucking lazy," Tayuya muttered as she ate her third cup of ramen, "But you're right about one thing, which amazes me, Shithead."

"Oh?" Naruto replied as he took a bite of his seventh cup of ramen, "What's that, Tayuya-chan?"

"I fucking told you not to call me that!" Tayuya hissed before taking another bite of her ramen, "But you were right about ramen. It is the fucking gift from the gods."

"Damn straight," Naruto agreed, slurping up a couple of stray noodles with a grin. He put the now empty cup in the pyramid-like stack they made of the instant ramen cups and smiled at the redhead, "Just wait until you taste Old Man Ichiraku's or Ayame-nee-chan's. Talk about food from heaven."

"Can't fucking wait, Shithead," Tayuya said, looking up from her cup and shaking her head, "You're a fucking pig...Not even the Fat Ass Jirobo could eat that much that fast."

"Eh, well I've got a big stomach," Naruto said, patting his stomach. He looked at her as she stacked her cup on the top of the pyramid, "Want me to ready the bath for you? It takes the right tricks to get the water to actually heat up."

Tayuya's eyes seemed to glow with excitement, "Hell yes! Bout damn time I get a fucking bath!"

Naruto laughed before he stood and went to ready the bath for her. A few minutes later he came back out to tell her it was done when he found the instant ramen cups all stacked neatly in two piles by the trash. They glistened slightly as though they had been rinsed out and Naruto turned his head to Tayuya, who was lounging on the couch channel surfing.

"Did you rinse the cups?" he asked, slightly amazed. Tayuya gave him a 'What are you, retarded?' look.

"No, Shithead, I pissed on em," she replied sarcastically. Naruto snickered before throwing a hand and thumb over his shoulder.

"Tub's nice and warm for you, Tayuya-chan," he said, smirking when she seemed to hastily reach for her wheelchair. His smirk turned to a look of embarrassment and he scratched the back of his head, "I need to ask Baa-chan or Nee-chan for some clothes for you, but I have a dresser in the bedroom that has some clothes in there."

"Good to know, Shithead!" Tayuya said as she wheeled past him in a hurry towards the bathroom. Naruto chuckled before taking her spot on the couch and changing the channel to a movie.

"A _Princess Fuuin_ film, eh?" the blonde said with a grin, "Well I've only seen them all a billion times...but I do enjoy Koyuki-hime's work."

* * *

Tayuya relaxed in the bath and sighed in bliss, "Some fuckin candles and it'd be a fuckin spa. Wonder if Shithead's got anything good to read in here..."

The redhead looked up and around the room before grabbing a book from the small shelf in the bathroom. It was a blank cover but fairly large, almost like a child's book.

Tayuya smirked, "If this is one of those bitch 'How to Read' books, I'll laugh my ass off."

She opened the first page and her eyes widened. It turned out to be Naruto's only photo album, which he had hidden in the apartment from the many raids that had taken place over the years. The first image was that of an old man with short white hair holding an infant with blonde fuzz in his arms and smiling. Beneath it read, 'For Naruto-kun; From Sarutobi-jiji. In hopes you'll be able to treasure moments in your life forever.'

Tayuya smiled slightly before shaking her head of the sappy feeling and turned the page. This picture was that of a four or five year old blonde with a smile on his face. He was missing one tooth and had a bowl of ramen in front of him. Leaning into the picture with him was a brown haired teenage girl that was smiling. The words below the image read, 'Meeting the Ichiraku's, Naruto discovered ramen...something that I have a feeling will cost my wallet much pain. Not shown; the seven bowls before his current one. Kami it's almost as bad as paperwork.'

Tayuya had to hold back a laugh at that. Whoever was writing this book, who Tayuya believed to be this Sarutobi-jiji that was mentioned before, had a good sense of humor. She turned the page again and rolled her eyes with a smirk. The image was of the blonde holding his arms out above his head in front of what had to be the Konoha Academy. It's inscription read, 'First Day at the Academy, and the first step on the road to Hokage. I wish you luck Naruto.'

That time she did laugh, albeit quietly before she turned the page. The next page was puzzling as she read it's inscription. The image was of a couple years older Naruto in front of the academy, but his smile was the fake one she knew now, his eyes showed nothing but sadness. In the background, several kids were wearing Konoha headbands and a few were sneering in Naruto's direction. The inscription was odd as well, 'Passing the Genin exam', which was crossed out and replaced with, 'There's always next time, Naruto. Don't forget your promise to me, because that is your Nindo.'

Tayuya turned the page again, and it was a similar picture, instead with Naruto sitting on a swing and looking back at kids wearing Konoha headbands. She frowned as the image of Naruto was wearing that orange eye-sore she had seen him in before when they first met and he was weakly smiling, the smile not coming close to meeting his eyes despite the size of it. The inscription below had another sentence crossed out, but it was too far gone to be read. Instead, written below it was, 'The road to Hokage is harder than it seems, but with faith and prosperity, and you will make it, Naruto-kun. Jiji.'

Frowning, Tayuya hesitantly turned the page before feeling slightly relieved. In the picture, a scarred shinobi wearing a flak jacket was sitting with Naruto at the ramen stand and smiling towards the camera. The sadness wasn't evident in Naruto's eyes this time and a true smile was on his face. Tayuya read the inscription and released a breath she was holding. It read, 'Umino Iruka, Chunin of Konohagakure and Naruto's class' sensei takes over the hellish-I mean, delightful duty of paying for Naruto's ramen. Sucker.'

After rereading it, another soft laugh came from Tayuya before she, again hesitantly, turned the page. There was a picture of Naruto wearing white makeup with red designs in a dramatic pose and another with Naruto just standing there with a grin. The two images had normal smiles, neither true happiness nor fake, and in both he was wearing that goddamn orange jumpsuit. She read the inscriptions below it and smirked; 'Only Kami knows where Naruto got that makeup...' and 'FINALLY! After seven pictures, a decent one for Naruto's ID.'

Still smirking, Tayuya turned the page again and looked at the image before doing a double take. In it, a white haired man with a mask and his headband covering his left eye had both hands on the heads of Naruto and the Fag. Between them was a girl with bubblegum pink hair, this caused Tayuya to die a little on the inside. Red hair was badass, but pink hair? Who the hell had pink hair?

"That must be that banshee that came in a few days ago..." Tayuya mused before reading the inscription, "'Team 7 is reformed...A fitting tittle for Naruto's genin squad. I can only wish him more luck, now.' What the hell does that mean? A fitting tittle?"

Figuring that she'd had enough time in the tub, Tayuya slid the photo album back where it was before pulling herself out of the tub, very carefully, and sitting on the toilet seat with the lid down. She grabbed the towel Naruto had left out and dried herself off before glancing back at the closed photo album. Making a quick decision, Tayuya snatched the album and put it on her wheelchair before pulling herself into it with the towel wrapped around her. As she left the bathroom, she glanced over towards the room Naruto was in. He was asleep on the couch, or so it seemed, with his headband on his eyes and facing the TV.

Tayuya quickly wheeled herself into the bedroom and stopped in front of the dresser. She pulled a few drawers open before finding clothes and pulling out a black shirt with a swirl in its center. After searching the drawers, she found his boxers and pulled a pair out before snorting.

"Fucker has damned ramen boxers...who would've thought they even made those?" Tayuya muttered as she pulled them on. Pulling the towel off the bed, Tayuya threw it over in the corner. With a last glance to the album on the bed, Tayuya hesitantly looked at the first picture again and then at the inscription. Her eyes widened when she made the connection.

_His 'Jiji' was that Sandaime that the Molester killed...I helped kill him..._Tayuya realized. She frowned suddenly, _Why doesn't he hate me?_

She then wheeled back out to the room Naruto was in to see him sitting on the floor in the lotus position with his headband around his neck and his eyes shut. With an arched brow, Tayuya wheeled closer and rapped her knuckles on his head, again surprised by the shocking fact his hair was defying gravity and was softer than it looked. She shook those thoughts from her head as the previous revelation came to her mind.

"Ow!" Naruto said, his eyes flying open and darting to her direction before they swirled slightly, "Dammit Tayuya-chan...I was actually in the middle of something..."

"Well next time do that shit somewhere _other_ than the center of the room!" Tayuya snapped as she lifted herself from her chair and onto the couch. She winced and rubbed her arm after doing so, feeling a pain in her tricep.

Naruto stood and tilted his head slightly, "You ok?"

"Pulled a fucking muscle," Tayuya grumbled, "Dammit. Fuckin hurts."

"I could send Gamakichi to get Shizune-nee-chan or Baa-chan," Naruto suggested. Tayuya stopped rubbing her arm but stayed silent and lowered her head, hiding her face from the blonde. Naruto took a hesitant step forward, "Tayuya-chan?"

"Why?" the redhead whispered. Naruto arched a brow and took another half-step forward.

"Why what?" he asked cautiously. Something was wrong, and Naruto knew it. He had a bad feeling, and usually those feelings were always spot on.

"Why are you so fucking nice to me?" Tayuya shouted, raising her head, revealing a pained and confused look on her face, "Why? Why are you so damned nice despite my fucking origin? I fucking helped kill the Sandaime! I helped that fucking faggot leave this place! I used to work for Orochimaru! Doesn't that piss you off? Don't you want me dead?"

"I don't understand..." Naruto said quietly but Tayuya shouted again.

"You fucking idiot!" the redhead shouted, "Why are _you_ so damn nice to me? Why don't _you_ hate me? Kami knows the Hag hates me, all your little faggy friends from that mission for the Fag hate me! Goddamn it, the fucking village hates me! Why don't _you_?"

A slap echoed throughout the room and Tayuya found herself looking to the left. Naruto lowered his hand from its post-slapping position and went into a relaxed stance.

"Look at me, Tayuya-chan," Naruto said softly. Slowly, the redhead turned to look at the boy that was assigned to be her bodyguard. Naruto's purple eyes were looking at her with worry and she felt like another part of her died. Feeling as though she didn't deserve that look, Tayuya looked away again.

"Dammit Tayuya-chan, look at me!" Naruto said, putting his hands on her cheeks and forcing eye contact. Tayuya felt heat rush to her face before shaking the feeling off and glaring at the blonde before her.

"What is wrong with you?" He asked, "If you don't tell me, don't think I won't get a damned Yamanaka in here. You're still a civilian under watch and as your bodyguard I can make it happen."

Tayuya hesitated before speaking quietly, "Why don't you fucking hate me? Just tell me dammit..."

Naruto released her face and sat down a good two feet from her, giving the girl he had known for about a month and a half some space, "Because I know you."

"You don't fucking know me!" Tayuya growled with a glare. Naruto smiled slightly, pissing her off further.

"I know enough," he said. He leaned back on his hands and looked at the ceiling, "I know you were involved with Jiji's death, but you weren't directly responsible for it. It'd be wrongful blame for me to hate you for what Orochimaru-teme did. As for the Traitor...I know now he chose to go. It wasn't like you kidnapped him."

"You don't know that!" Tayuya snarled, "What if I did, what would you do if you found out I had put a genjutsu on him to make him _want_ to go to Orochimaru?"

The blonde paused, "I don't know...the old me would've demanded you tell me where Sasuke was and then rush off without a plan."

Tayuya waited a minute before asking, "And now?"

"I'd probably hand you over to ANBU I&T or ask Baa-chan for instructions, which would probably be the same," Naruto said. He looked back at her with his pale purple eyes, "Ever since I've gotten these eyes I've been..._calm_. Hell, I always wore a mask without a thought, but now I have to actually force it...I don't enjoy it, but I have to do it."

"Why?" Tayuya asked. Naruto smiled sadly.

"You were one of Orochimaru's elite warriors," he said, "Probably given information on us. Come on, think back to when you got information on the shinobi of Konoha. The genin specifically. Orochimaru may be a cold, heartless and a closet molester, but he was NOT stupid."

Tayuya narrowed her eyes before thinking back. She racked her brain for information on the Konoha genin in Naruto's and the Fag's generation for information on the blonde. Eventually it came to her mind and she recited it.

"You somehow failed the genin exam two times," she said, before remembering the picture and jumping ahead, "You participated in one A ranked mission where you encountered Momochi Zabuza before he died. You had a B ranked mission to Yuki no Kuni where you defeated a tyrant overlord and put an actress on the throne. I actually want to hear about that sometime. After that you did mostly D ranks, damn that had to fucking suck. And you are the..."

Her eyes widened as she realized what she was about to say. She looked at Naruto the wide eyes in question and Naruto nodded with the sad smile still in place.

"Say it," he said softly as his smile died.

Tayuya swallowed before whispering, "You're the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune that attacked Konoha thirteen years ago..."

"Which is why Konoha's civilians don't really like me," he said before grinning, "Well, most of them do now, after I kicked Gaara's ass and brought Baa-chan back. Some of them blame me for the Traitor's, well, betrayal. Can't win them all, though."

Tayuya had a dry throat. That's why he didn't hate her. He knew how she felt and she knew how he felt. They understood each other and understood the pain of being hated for something out of their control. Tayuya wondered if this is what the Hag was talking about before she left the hospital.

"I take it from the look of realization you asked Baa-chan about my mask?" Naruto asked, snapping her from her thoughts. Tayuya nodded and Naruto sighed.

"I wish sometimes she'd actually _tell_ people things about my life so I wouldn't have to," the blonde muttered before smiling back at Tayuya, "But that's not the whole reason why I don't hate you."

The redhead looked at him in shock. There was more? This she had to hear.

Naruto grinned, "I believe everyone, especially people like us, deserve a second chance."

* * *

**AN: Aww...kind of fluffish, but hey, what can I say? I like it. Sorry about the lack of Ame's Jinchuriki chapter, but like I said before, I need more ideas...well for the finishing up of the Yuki saga anyway. I have the Kiri, Iwa, and Uchiha ideas still in my head...hmm, maybe I should introduce the Uchiha saga in the next chapter along with the finalization of the Yuki saga. Well give me your guys' and gals' input! PEACE.**


	3. Awake and Alive

**So I have fallen in love with the show '30 Rock'. Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, Tina Fey are all hilarious! I personally love the interactions between their characters. But I'm off track, let's get back to this fic.**

**Disclaimer: Like Tracy Jordan can't control his own attention span, I don't own Look there's a chicken! Hehehehehe...chicken**

**Chapter 3: **_**Awake and Alive**_** by Skillet**

* * *

It's been two weeks since Tayuya was discharged from the hospital. She had regained some use of her legs, but she wasn't as fast as she used to be. The fact Naruto had become even more skilled with his Uzugan and could now activate his first ability with his eyes was what seemed to keep her off her own pity. His first ability was called **Kyoufu-Rerumu**, and with it, he could discover your worst fear and then trap you in a genjutsu revolving around said fear. Unlike the Mangeyko Sharingan, which sucks more and more chakra with its prolonged use, the Uzugan only needed small amounts of the user's chakra to activate and keep the hold on the target's mind. Eye contact wasn't needed either; it did make things more effective though. It was successfully first used in a council meeting on a certain civilian councilor that momentarily forgot about the Sandaime's Law and threatened Tayuya.

After that, Tsunade politely asked him not to do that on another Konoha Villager or she would be forced to seal his eyes away. He agreed, only saying he would use it if to defend himself or Tayuya. He sent a warning glare to all of the Civilian council members before nodding respectively to the Shinobi council members and leaving with Tayuya. The redheaded girl asked why he came to her defense again, and the blonde responded with his same 'bodyguard/precious person' line.

Tayuya had also been helping him with his own genjutsu training. Naruto came to her asking for assistance with that skill, and only when he begged on his knees, offering obscene amounts of ramen, did she accept. She drove him hard, making him start out with mastering the easiest genjutsu first; the **Bunshin**. It took him a good portion of the second week of her release, but eventually he could create the technique without the use of hand seals. Tayuya then took it upon herself to make sure his chakra control was beyond compare. Despite his constant complaints that she was his charge and he should be focusing his attention on her safety, Tayuya eventually convinced him the only way she knew how; she threatened his manhood.

They were currently at Training Ground 26; the Nidaime's Waterfall.

"I'm telling you I can't do it!" Naruto growled from his spot standing on the water and just barely balancing kunai on his fingertips, "I have too much chakra!"

"Then add in that fucking leaf technique!" Tayuya shouted back from her spot lounging next to the river. She was carving a flute herself out of a log she had taken from the blonde's stash. Her eyes were narrowed in determination to make the flute as durable as possible. The last thing she wanted was for someone to break her flute...again.

Naruto grumbled before he suddenly silenced and tossed the kunai in the air, attaching chakra strings to them and bringing them back to his hands as he readied himself to defend Tayuya.

"Show yourself!" the blonde shouted. Tayuya hid her flute-in-progress and readied the kunai she was using to carve with in a defensive manner.

"Maa, maa, Naruto," a lazy voice drawled out, "It's just me."

Naruto chucked a kunai at the voice's origin and the man cried out, "MY BOOK!"

The blind boy grinned, "Well that's one way to keep my positivity up. Sorry, Kakashi-sensei!"

The silver haired jonin grumbled as he walked out while cradling his impaled porn. He looked at the blonde that was standing on the water with a narrowed eye before blinking. His student had his headband around his eyes and was wearing black shinobi pants and sandals. For a shirt he wore a dark blue judogi and he had an orange jacket similar to Tsunade's signature jacket. On the back in a blue circle was the kanji for 'Whirlpool' on it. The inner lining of the jacket was the same dark blue as his judogi, obviously reversible for when he had to go on missions. Kakashi's visible and hidden eyes widened in shock.

_I heard from Kurenai that he had lost his sight...but I didn't actually believe it,_ Kakashi thought sadly before he unclenched his fist he was unaware was bleeding from the palm, _Sasuke's betrayal will be the last thing he does to harm Konoha. I swear on my sensei's grave not to train another team until the Uchiha traitors are brought to justice...perhaps it's time to go back to ANBU._

"Sensei?" Naruto asked as he tilted his head, "I know you're still here and you're upset, what did you come here for?"

Kakashi snapped from his musing and eye smiled at the blonde, "Just checking up on you. Heard you were hanging out with a redhead now...didn't think you'd find a girlfriend so fast considering your condition-YIPE!"

Several kunai imbedded themselves in the tree behind the jonin and he looked back to see Naruto grinning maliciously, "You're lucky Tayuya-chan can barely run or you'd be locked in your room out of fear."

He was hit with a rock in the side of the head and Kakashi looked at the attacker. The red-haired girl scowled at the blonde and cracked her knuckles.

"What have I told you about calling me that, Shithead?" She asked Naruto. Naruto grumbled and rubbed his head.

"Don't throw things at me!" the blonde shouted back. Tayuya walked over to him and slammed her fist into the top of his head.

"Fine, I'll settle for beating your ass, shithead," she said with a smirk before walking back towards the village with a slightly noticeable limp. Naruto rubbed his head again before picking his kunai up and following after her. Kakashi walked slowly behind them before glaring/looking at his student.

"So Naruto," he started, "About my book..."

"I'm not asking Ero-sennin for another copy," Naruto interrupted, "Maybe if you were less perverted you could get that crazy snake lady you always mutter to yourself about."

Kakashi whacked Naruto in the back of the head, "Shut up, gaki."

"Ow! My poor head..." the blonde whined, "That's not nice Sensei. Beating on the blind kid..."

"So?" Kakashi said before a thought came to his mind, "Why _are_ you with that redhead? She your girlfriend?"

A rock came flying from ahead of them and Kakashi ducked. He looked up to see Tayuya glaring daggers at him. Naruto stopped and sighed.

"Oh, now you've done it," the blonde muttered. He held his hand up in a single hand seal before shunshining away. Kakashi blinked at where his student once was before seeing the redhead crack her knuckles.

"Was I right?" Kakashi asked somewhat cheekily. His last conscious thought was, _she's just like Minato-sensei's girlfriend and Rin-chan..._

* * *

Naruto sat down at the Ichiraku's stand with a smile, "Hey Old Man, Ayame-nee-chan, a miso ramen to start and ready a veggie ramen for Tayuya-chan."

"Coming up!" Teuchi said as he returned to his cooking. Ayame leaned against her side of the counter.

"So you take Tayuya out yet, Naruto-kun?" Ayame asked with a smile. The blonde sputtered for a moment.

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Naruto shouted, alerting a nearby group of Leaf rookies to his whereabouts. Minutes later, Naruto found himself surrounded by his group of friends.

"Naruto! Where've you been man?"

"Troublesome blonde..."

"Munch...Munch...Yeah, where were you? Munch...Munch..."

"A-Are Y-you o-ok, N-Naruto-kun?"

"How are your eyes, Naruto-san? Due to the time you have been out of the hospital, I assume you've gotten used to the, unfortunate, darkness."

"Is something wrong with your eyes, Naruto?"

"Yosh! My youthful friend! You must be back to your youthful self! Hurrah for Youthful-ness! I shall celebrate by climbing the Hokage Mountain with my teeth! And if I cannot do that, then I shall run to Suna and back on my hands five times!"

"Naruto, where'd you get the clothes? You actually look...good!"

"Like Tsunade-sama! Are you her new apprentice, Naruto? I'm so jealous!"

"Where have you been you baka? Everyone's been worried sick about you!"

"Everyone SHUT UP!" Naruto shouted, causing all of the rookies to become silent. He pushed Choji and Shikamaru back and held his hand out, "Come on, Tayuya-chan. Food's getting cold."

All of the Sasuke Retrieval Squad gasped in shock when they saw her, aside from Shikamaru who muttered his catchphrase, and the rest of the group (the girls and Shino) looked at the shocked ones questioningly. Akamaru growled at the redheaded girl, but silenced when Naruto released a growl of his own.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, "Who is this?"

Naruto paused in mid-bite and sighed before replying, "This is Tayuya-chan *dodges flying fist* don't do that! And she is my friend and charge. You will not hurt her, these are orders from Tsunade herself."

The SRS felt their eyes widen and looked at Shikamaru who nodded and sat on Naruto's left while Tayuya sat on his right. The redhead and blonde both ate their ramen while the rookies all watched on in quiet, various questions running through their minds. Kiba couldn't take it anymore and blurted out, "Ok, _why_ is she here? I thought she was dead!"

"She isn't. Get over it or else," Naruto grunted before returning to his ramen. Tayuya was quiet throughout the whole ordeal, but Naruto could tell she was scared. Her heart was jumping around wildly in her chest and her breathing, although calm, was forced. He finished his bowl and left money on the counter.

"We'll be going now old man," Naruto said as he put a hand on Tayuya's shoulder, "Thanks for the bowl. Maybe next time we'll get more."

"Aw, alright Naruto," Teuchi said before grinning evilly, "Don't forget to use protection."

The two teens flushed bright red while the rookies all gasped and looked at the two questioningly. Tayuya gave him a look that promised pain and suffering while Naruto clenched his jaw and led the redhead away before she lost her cool. They left the stand, followed immediately by the rookies. Naruto's eye twitched in annoyance as he overheard their whispers.

"Who is that girl with Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"She's a member of the sound four that helped Sasuke-teme escape," Kiba growled. Shikamaru sighed.

"But Naruto's right," the chunin said, "Tsunade-sama ordered him to protect her. She might become a member of Konoha soon."

"WHAT?" the others whisper yelled. Sakura clenched her fist, "That baka...she took Sasuke-kun away from me. I'll kill her!"

Naruto stopped walking. In a blur of blue and orange, he had moved to being in the center of the rookies' small group. Lee gasped at the speed the blonde showed, it was as fast as Sasuke was before he trained with Kakashi for the finals of the Chunin exams, and what was more shocking was there were no signs of chakra enhancement in his movement. Naruto grabbed Sakura's shoulder and pushed her to the ground with ease. After her yelp of surprise, she looked up to glare at the blonde to see a kunai looking her in the eye from the blonde himself. The other rookies stood shocked as Naruto snarled at the pinkette.

"_Sasuke_ is a dead man," the blonde growled, "He took my eyes, ending our friendship. He betrayed the leaf, ending his immunity. He _will_ fall at my hands. Don't take your anger out on someone who had nothing to do with his choice."

"What are you talking about?" Ino shouted, afraid to step in because of the KI radiating off her fellow blonde, "Sasuke-kun was kidnapped!"

Naruto growled, "Is that what everyone was told by the council? Well, _Sakura_? Was he kidnapped? You saw him last before he left the village gates. Was he dragged out kicking and screaming? Was he under a genjutsu? You should know, you are adept at detecting them."

Sakura felt her heart pound in her chest before she answered meekly, "No, but–"

"But _nothing_," the blonde growled before putting his kunai away and standing, not moving to help the girl up, "_Sasuke_ left of his own accord. And because of _him_, I'm blind. I will never be able to see again. Out of all of you, I expected some sort of friendship and support from my teammate but all I get is scorn for doing my _job_. It seems all this village knows though is to hold a grudge, you included. You sicken me, Sakura. Once my mission is over, I might go through with my consideration of leaving Team 7."

With that, he turned and went back to the redhead's side. Tayuya turned to the blind boy and asked, "Did you mean all that?"

Naruto nodded, "I see now that those few that I called my friends want nothing more than their precious _Sasuke-sama_ back. If they knew what burden I carried, they would not understand."

"You're judging them too quickly," Tayuya said to the blonde. He turned his head in her direction.

"They did the same to you, Tayuya-chan," he said before facing forward, "I only gave them something to think about."

* * *

"He's right you know," Shikamaru said as he watched the two leave, "She was only following orders."

"But...they took Sasuke-kun-" Sakura started as Ino helped her up. Neji interrupted her.

"The _Uchiha_," Neji hissed icily, "Left of his own accord. That girl, Tayuya, was only doing her job Orochimaru gave her. Wouldn't you follow his order if you were under his hold?"

"Still, they shouldn't have taken Sasuke!" Sakura continued to be dense.

"The Uchiha chose his own choice in leaving," Shino said in his monotone voice, the sounds of buzzing in his coat, "He is a traitor to Konoha and as the law states, he is liable to death. It's only logical that he is killed by who he betrayed most. I for one will be assisting Naruto should he ask for it."

"Naruto has no right to kill Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted. She was slapped across the face by the person every least expected.

"Focus Sakura-chan," Lee said with tears in his eyes, "Naruto-kun has lost his eyes to Sasuke. Sasuke has no right to be a Konoha shinobi anymore. He has injured one of our own and betrayed our village. Everyone else here sees it...why can't you?"

* * *

Naruto opened the door to his apartment and stiffened, "What do you want, Crazy Snake Lady?"

"It's Anko-san to you, you brat!" Anko said as she punched him in the head. While the blonde cradled his abused head for the umpteenth time, Anko continued, "And it's time to see if this girl is worth our troubles."

"I'm going with you," Naruto said. Anko sighed.

"Hokage-sama said you'd say that," the purple haired woman said, "Fine. Let's go gakis. I've got shit to do, and this is in the way of that."

She led the two from the apartment towards the ANBU I&T building. Tayuya looked at Naruto.

"Why are you coming with me, Shithead?" the redhead asked quietly. That's something else that changed with the girl, she was more quiet and reserved around Naruto. She would drop her mask in front of him, but as soon as someone else came into the conversation or area, she would bring it right back up.

"I'm your bodyguard," Naruto replied with a reassuring smile, "It's my job to make sure no one hurts you until Baa-chan says otherwise. Even then though, I'll still probably have your back."

Tayuya blushed slightly and asked, "Why?"

"Same reason I had your back when we were at the ramen stand," the blonde replied before he smiled at her, "You're my friend and a precious person."

To say her face was red would be an understatement. Tayuya was a darker shade of her hair and her heart felt like it was going to burst from happiness. She bowed her head slightly to hide the stupid smile on her face from the world.

"You're my friend too, Naruto," she whispered, barely loud enough for the blonde to hear. Her thoughts continued with, _And I'll do what I can to have your back when you face that asshole that did this to you._

"Aw, isn't that sweet?" Anko asked as she held the door to the ANBU I&T open, "Gakis in love! Makes me wanna tear up and cry. Maybe even write beautiful poetry."

"Shut up psycho," the two replied in sync as they walked past her. Tayuya's reply being more embarrassed than her annoyed counterpart.

"Why does everyone think we're an item?" Naruto whispered, "Kami...It gets so annoying!"

"Y-yeah," Tayuya agreed before they entered a room with a table and two chairs in it. On the right wall was a mirror, but Naruto could tell from the sounds emitting from it there were more people in there.

"The demon spawn is in there!" Hissed a voice laced with hatred.

"What did you say?" A growling Tsunade asked.

"N-Nothing, Hokage-sama." The voice replied, fear stricken.

"That's what I thought." Tsunade replied. The whispers of hatred didn't die down despite her unspoken threat.

Naruto turned back to Tayuya and saw her sitting in a chair, nervously glancing at him occasionally. He placed his hand on her shoulder to reassure her that her fears were for naught. This seemed to relax her, if only a little bit. Anko spun the other char opposite Tayuya around before sitting down in it.

"Here's the low down," she said, "We want information on he-who-molests and his bitches."

"Subtle," muttered Naruto. Anko shot him a grin before looking back at Tayuya.

"What can you tell us?" Anko asked with narrowed eyes.

And so Tayuya spilled every bit of information she could think of. Aside from the occasional glance at the mirrored wall, Tayuya came off as completely steeled during her 'interrogation'. She had revealed several hidden bases on the outskirts of Hi no Kuni and revealed many of the 'Oni Jutsu' Orochimaru had developed over the years. Anko wrote all this down, repeating questions several times to make sure she wasn't lying. The blonde snorted when he realized that fact, as he could instantly tell when someone was lying due to his echolocation. Naruto had to keep himself in check as he heard the disbelieving whispers from the civilian council that was behind the mirror. He didn't even know why they were there! Eventually the subject Anko was most passionate about came up, and then things got crazy.

"What do you mean you don't know how to remove the damned curse mark?" Anko demanded. Naruto took a protective step forward from his spot.

"Back off, Gaki!" Anko shouted at him before rounding back on Tayuya, "Well? Tell me what you know!"

"I did, dammit!" Tayuya shouted back, "Fuck bitch, if I knew how to get this fucking curse mark off, do you think I'd still have this fucking thing on my neck? Fuck no! It hurts like a bitch!"

"Don't lie to me!" Anko shouted.

"You're fucking psychotic!" the redhead shouted back, "When I fucking said I don't know, I fucking meant I don't fucking know!"

A buzzer was pressed and Tsunade's voice said, "That's enough, Mitarashi. I think we've learned all we can."

Anko sat back with a small glare at Tayuya, her glare being matched evenly from the redhead. Naruto coughed to earn both of the girls' attention/glares.

"Can we leave now?" he asked as his stomach suddenly rumbled loudly. Tayuya groaned and palmed herself in the face while Anko laughed heartily. The blonde smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, "I'm _really_ hungry..."

"Yeah, I guess you're clear," Anko said before the door was opened and Tsunade walked in.

"Sorry gaki," Tsunade said with a grin, getting a pouting look from the younger blonde, "But the council just approved Tayuya's enrollment into our shinobi forces. We even have a select squad to put her in."

"Aw," the blonde said with a dejected tone. He turned to Tayuya, "Guess this is goodbye then."

Tayuya forced a smile back to the blonde and replied, "Yeah. Thank god I'll be able to get away from your annoying ass, Shithead."

Naruto chuckled, "I'll miss you too, Tayuya-chan."

The redhead threw a punch and Naruto leaned back to dodge it. Tsunade chuckled, earning the both of their attention. The Godaime gave the two teens a smile.

"Who said you'd be separated?" Tsunade asked with a raised eyebrow, "I've had ANBU watching you two, and I, along with several of my advisors, have decided that you two form a better team than we thought was possible. We just need to find you both a sensei."

"Nani? Are you serious Baa-chan?" Naruto asked with a huge grin. Even Tayuya had a smile on her face at hearing those words. She had been dreading the separation from Naruto. He understood her, something that was new to Tayuya, and he never scolded her. He was her best friend, yet another first for the redhead, and Tayuya didn't want to lose the chance to keep her own promise she made with herself concerning the blind boy.

"Yes Naruto," Tsunade said before throwing the two teens another curveball, "I've decided to let you two choose your sensei. Unorthodox, yes, but it will prove to be highly effective. I can give you a list of a select few who are free of duty and a small amount of information on them. Shizune will drop the paperwork off at your apartment, Tayuya, and even assist you if you want."

"It might be easier with Shit-zune there to help us," Tayuya mused, using her own unique nickname for the first apprentice to the Hokage, "Plus, she's your assistant, Hag, so she might even have more information than you."

Tsunade gained a tick on her forehead, "What was that you little bitch?"

"You heard me you Old Hag!" Tayuya replied with a smirk. Naruto snickered in the background, and put an innocent smile on his face when Tsunade turned to glare at him. The Hokage grumbled something along the lines of "Pesky lovesick brats" but it was lost to both teens, even with Naruto's uncanny hearing.

* * *

"You're sure this is ok?" Ino asked as Sakura peeled a wooden plank away from one of the windows to a room on the bottom floor of Naruto's apartment complex. The two had decided to get a sneak attack on the redhead while Naruto would be, most likely, engrossed in getting a new mission. What they hadn't taken into account was the fact that they had no clue where this girl was staying in the complex aside from knowing Naruto had been letting her stay with him. They decided to do it in the mid-afternoon.

"The Baka won't care," Sakura said as she plied another plank away, "It's not as if he owns the complex. That man said she was staying here, so all we have to do is find her room and then get the drop on the bitch! We'll force her to tell us where Sasuke-kun is! Then we can save him from Orochimaru-teme and focus on keeping Naruto away from Sasuke-kun! It's full pro-oof!"

The last plank came off easily, surprising Sakura and causing her to fall back. The platinum blonde, who usually felt she was always right in her actions, was feeling very unsure of this plan. There was a point where she drew the line, and breaking and entering into a trained ninja's apartment, no matter how injured they are, was NEVER a good idea. As Sakura climbed into the apartment, Ino hesitated. She had a bad feeling about this. Sakura, who had ungracefully landed in the apartment, turned to look at her best friend.

"Come on, Ino-pig!" the banshee whispered and yet managed to make it shriek, "For Sasuke-kun!"

"Yeah..." Ino said with less certainty in her voice, "For Sasuke-kun..."

The two wandered through the apartment, searching for signs of the (now former) Oto kunoichi's home. They were unaware that Tayuya had relocated herself to the top floor along with Naruto as soon as she could walk. They were also unaware Naruto was in the 'Lounge Room' that used to be Tayuya's apartment. Showering after a quick training session Tayuya made him do to burn some extra calories.

Ino and Sakura heard the running shower, due to their (completely worthless in Sakura's case, so mainly Ino's) shinobi skills, and ran to the last door on the right. The door was unlocked, to their surprise.

_Probably so the Baka can get in and baby her some more,_ Sakura thought as she entered the apartment, _HE's the traitor, not Sasuke-kun. Sasuke-kun can do no wrong! __**CHA! Time to kick some Oto bitch ass!**_

The shower suddenly turned off, causing the two fan-girls to dart behind the couch and hide. Footsteps approached the main room from the back and the two girls readied themselves to attack, one being hesitant in readying herself. Their preparation was for naught when Naruto walked out.

Clad in only a towel.

Ino gaped at the small definition the blonde had. In a few years, he might actually turn out to be quite a catch. Add the small water droplets still clinging to his body and the way the random necklace gleamed from being wet, and his damp hair that was falling over his eyes slightly, hiding them. Heck, Ino thought he was the catch now. Ino's only coherent thought as she stared at the blonde from behind the couch was, _Oh man...is this why Hinata always blushed around Naruto?_

Sakura's brain short circuited. She was trying to comprehend the images her eyes were seeing. Allow me to put into words the thinking process of Sakura's current mind state. Naruto everyone knows = dork, dumbass, orange clad, failure as a ninja, clone prone, ramen addict, energetic, hyper, prankster, buffoon. New Naruto = Evil (due to the threat on Sasuke's life), serious, fast, blind, hot, aggressive, mean, hot, apparently smarter, calm, dangerous, hot. In short, New Naruto's description and Naruto Everyone Knows' description didn't match up, causing Sakura's mind to continuously proclaim "ERROR! DOES NOT COMPUTE! ERROR! INITIATE SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUNCE!"

"I know you're there," the blonde said, shaking the two girls, well Ino anyway, from their thoughts as he cleaned his ear out with his pinky to remove the access water, "What do you want? I'm hungry and I've got shit to do concerning my team."

This got Sakura's attention and she leapt out from behind the couch. She pulled a kunai out, "I won't let you hurt Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto's calm look hardened and a small frown crossed his face. Ino shrunk back behind the couch, but kept the blonde in her sights with wide eyes. This new Naruto was scary.

"I wasn't even thinking about the Traitor or you, Sakura," the blonde said. He noted the kunai and scowled, "Are you really going to attack me, a fellow Konoha shinobi? That can end in death Sakura, you're lucky I still consider you my friend or I might actually charge you."

Sakura blinked in confusion, "Wh-what do you mean?"

Naruto allowed a small grin to appear on his face, "And you were the smartest genin in our class? I'm shocked...Here I thought you'd have memorized every last small fact Iruka-sensei fed you."

Sakura scowled and her anger rose, "Was that a jibe to my _forehead_?"

"You said that not me," the blonde replied. In a shriek of rage, Sakura leapt at him, causing the blonde to drop his smile. He raised his fist quickly, landing a blow in Sakura's gut as she flew at him. The girl's eyes widened before she passed out from the pain. Naruto picked her up, ungraciously, and set her on the couch. He turned to face Ino, who gasped as she saw his eyes.

"Naruto...y-your eyes," she said. The boy immediately scowled and rushed to the makeshift kitchen, grabbing a rag and tying it around his eyes. He turned back to face Ino.

"My eyes are an A-rank secret," the blonde said, "this is punishable by life in prison. Do you understand?"

"I do," Ino replied with a fast nod. Naruto relaxed and smiled.

"Good. Please take Sakura to Shizune-nee-chan and tell her exactly what transpired and you saw. Do not take her to anyone else," Naruto said, "I'd do it but you both decided to come in at a...inopportune moment."

Ino blushed and struggled to lift her friend onto her feet. Naruto escorted them to the door that opened closer to the hospital before returning to his room to dress. As he passed the framed copy of his Team 7 picture he paused before punching it and shattering the frame. He left the small apartment without haste after that, and went to the upper floors, where his and Tayuya's actual rooms were. The Team 7 photograph was left lying on the ground, half out of the shattered frame.

* * *

"...And then I dragged forehead here like he said to," Ino said as she finished explaining her story to Tsunade. The Hokage was called from her office when Shizune saw Sakura, who the current Fire Shadow was considering to make her apprentice of this generation, unconscious. Tsunade rubbed her forehead.

"I need a drink," she muttered before she looked down at the pink haired girl lying on the bed, resting. _She actually pulled a kunai on the gaki? Well, I'm not one to believe that a former teammate would do that to one of their friends, but this girl is a Yamanaka...they kind of have their own unwritten law concerning honesty when retelling a situation..._

"This is a huge mess of paperwork just waiting for me, I can feel it," Tsunade grumbled. She looked at Shizune and said, "Grab the files I told you about from my office and prescribe Haruno-san a few days' worth of sessions with Inochi. Then head over to the brat's home and give them a hand."

"Hai Tsunade-sama," the black haired assistant to the Hokage said with a bow before she left to do as she was told. Tsunade then turned to Ino, who looked like she had a question but was trying to keep from blurting it out. Tsunade sighed and waved her hand, telling her to go ahead.

"What was wrong with his eyes? And just why is he guarding that Tayuya girl? What did he mean about his team if he wasn't talking about Forehead or Sasuke-kun?" the blonde girl asked in one breath before she sighed with relief at getting it all out.

"Good questions," Tsunade said, crossing her arms and giving the girl a look, "But I have one of my own: Why are you still compassionate to Uchiha Sasuke? He is officially in the bingo book, as a B rank bounty."

"But..." Ino started, until Tsunade held her hand up.

"If you're trying to convince me otherwise, don't bother," Tsunade said sternly, "The civilian council members have already tried, and failed might I add. Uchiha Sasuke is a traitor to Konoha, and does have the option of being brought back for a trial, but it is most likely if, and that is _if_, a hunter shinobi finds him, they'll have to kill him."

Ino hung her head in defeat before looking back up, "Ok, I get it...But what about my questions?"

"Naruto's eyes are...restricted to few people's knowledge," Tsunade said, causing Ino to deflate slightly, "But don't get me wrong, he _is_ blind. And it is the Uchiha's fault. As to your other two questions, I guess I can answer them at once. Tayuya, up until today, was a fugitive of Oto healing in Konoha. He was assigned as her primary bodyguard. Now that she is a Konoha kunoichi, she is assigned to Naruto's new team."

"N-new team?" Ino said with shock, knowing how Sakura might respond to this, "B-but what about Forehead? Or Kakashi-sensei?"

"Sakura will rotate between genin teams until she makes chunin," the Hokage replied, "As for Hatake...well, that's unsure for now, but he's a big boy."

"O-ok," the young Yamanaka replied before bowing, "Thank you, Hokage-sama. At your leave."

"Yeah, give a nurse a call if Sakura wakes up," Tsunade said with a stretch as she left the room. Ino looked back at Sakura and sighed.

Her friend was going to have a hard time accepting Sasuke's fate.

Or her own for that matter.

* * *

Tayuya walked over to the door and opened it. The black haired woman smiled at her.

"Hello there Tayuya," Shizune said, "I brought the possible candidates and my own opinion."

"But is the opinion refundable?" Naruto called from inside the building. Tayuya snorted in amusement before standing to the side and letting the chuckling Shizune in. Naruto was lounging on the couch, flipping through a book written in brail.

Tayuya walked over to the blonde and smacked at his bare feet, making the blonde sit up, and sat in the spot his feet used to occupy. Shizune smirked.

"You two sure adjusted fast," she said, looking between them, "Or is there a reason for that?"

The two in question growled at what she was insinuating. Shizune laughed at their choice of response. She sat in the chair across from them and laid some files out on the table. Naruto randomly grabbed one before whistling and grinning.

"I love my dojutsu," he said as he read the file. The information was typed using a typewriter, so the words were pressed, meaning he could either read it from echolocation or by running his hands over the words. He did both in an effort to be sure he got all information correct.

"That is Uzuki Yuuago , Naruto," Shizune said, despite seeing he was reading it, "I've met her before. She's around my age and a seasoned ANBU member. She specializes in kenjutsu."

"Might be a good choice," Tayuya said before smirking at Naruto, "Bet ya shithead would enjoy having two hot kunoichi on his team, wouldn't you, pervert?"

"Bite me," replied the blonde as he fought a blush back from appearing on his face. He switched files with Tayuya and went over the next person.

"This Aoba person sounds good," Naruto said, as he ran his hand over the name of the person. Tayuya nodded from her spot.

"Who is he?" Shizune asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yamashiro Aoba," Tayuya said, "He's a tokujo, looks like he specializes in all areas. He's in the Interrogation and Torture department...well, the Konoha I&T anyway. Remind me to stay away from that faggy building for the rest of my life, Shithead."

"Done," Naruto said as he picked up another file, "Ok...What the...Nee-chan, why is your file in here?"

"WHAT?" both girls replied. Shizune snatched the file from Naruto's hands and looked at it with wide eyes.

"It's my file...she's...Tsunade-sama's trying to get rid of me?" Shizune asked with wide eyes. She looked at Tayuya and Naruto, both of whom were looking at her expectantly, "What?"

"What are your skills, Shit-Tzu?" Tayuya asked, slightly annoyed, "Isn't that why you're here? To give us a fucking clue of what each person can do so we don't have to go through the fucking files all fucking night."

"Easy," Naruto warned, sticking up for his sisterly figure. Shizune smiled thankfully at him before turning back to Tayuya.

"Well, I'm a fully licensed medic-nin, I have exceptional skills in poisoned senbon and my taijutsu is adequate with my rank," Shizune said. Naruto held a hand up.

"Question!"

After a glare from an annoyed Tayuya and a giggle from Shizune, the medic continued, "I'm a jonin, Naruto-kun."

"Ohh...Yeah, I figured as much," the blonde said as he lowered his hand. He went for another file as Shizune handed her file to Tayuya. Naruto ran his hand over the file he found and immediately pulled it back.

"No way in Hell," Naruto said, dropping Ebisu's file onto the floor, "Next!"

"Aw, c'mon, Naruto-kun," Shizune said as she picked the file up, "It's only...oh. well, I guess I can just set this one aside."

"Whose is it?" Tayuya asked, looking up from Shizune's file. Naruto smirked at her.

"Remember that guy I told you about?" he asked, "The closet pervert?"

"Ohh..." Tayuya said with a nod before something came to her mind, "You know...I've never seen that technique you've talked about."

"For good reason!" Naruto shouted back defensively, "I ain't getting hit for being a growing boy and having hormones!"

"What technique?" Shizune asked. Naruto slapped his hand over Tayuya's mouth, ignoring her as she bit and licked his palm.

"N-nothing, Shizune-nee-chan," Naruto said with an innocent grin. He and Tayuya had a silent argument with glares for about ten seconds before Naruto removed his hand and went back to looking over files. As he read this last file a smile adorned his face.

"I think we have a winner, here," he said giving a knowing look to Tayuya before giving her the file and setting Shizune's file down on the pile. Tayuya looked through the file and a grin started to adorn her face.

"You know, Shithead," Tayuya said, "I think you might be right about that."

Not feeling comfortable about being left out of the conversation, Shizune asked, "Who is it?"

The two teens exchanged another silent glance at each other, causing Shizune to remember the last time she had an experience like that and blushed, before they grinned at her.

"Tell us about this man," Naruto said as he held a picture out to Shizune. The black haired medic felt her eyes go wide and her jaw dropped at who they chose. He was the perfect choice for these two's sensei. He made up the missing factor of experience these two needed and had the planning mind neither of them had when upset. She looked between the two of them and was shocked when she saw the two grinning knowingly at her. Shizune blushed before she opened her mouth and started telling them about the man they chose.

"You're sure that's it, Shizune-nee-chan?" Naruto asked with a sly grin when Shizune finished.

Tayuya sniggered, "Yeah. You aren't leaving anything out of your opinion are you?"

"Shh!" Shizune said as he face heated up and turned a bright shade of pink. When the two didn't show any signs of silencing, Shizune sunk to their level, "Oh yeah? W-Well what about you two?"

"What about us?" Naruto asked while Tayuya growled threateningly. Naruto lightly gave the redhead a shove before he continued, "We're nothing more than friends, Shizune-nee-chan."

"You say that now," Shizune said with a grin. The two teens turned bright red at her small suggestion.

"That's it, out!" they both shouted; standing and pulling the older woman to her feet. Shizune laughed as Tayuya pulled her towards the door, Naruto pushing her out the door. After they got her outside, they slammed the door shut on her. Shizune couldn't bear it anymore and broke down in laughter. When the two opened the door and tossed the files, now bound together via ninja wire, at her, Shizune couldn't help but laugh harder.

As she walked home, Shizune couldn't help but think, _I just hope they treat each other right. They need it considering how they both wear emotional masks. And if Tayuya so much as hurts Naruto...well, I'll just sick Tsunade-sama on her._

* * *

**AN: Who will be the new sensei for Naruto and Tayuya? Can you guess? And why was Shizune so embarrassed about whoever he is? Will Sakura ever snap back to reality or is she too far gone? Will Ino's mouth get the better of her or will she keep quiet? Will I ever get that damned log? These questions will be answered, and yet more will come up, but you'll be satisfied for a bit. PEACE.**

**PS: Edited some small fix-em-ups~!**


	4. Never Gonna Be Alone

**Over two hundred people have this story either in their favorites or in their alerts! Damn! I can only say thank you so many times for enjoying what I write.**

**I recently got a review asking me to update this fic and another thanking me for not turning this into a harem. As you can read, I am updating and I would never change this fic into a harem! Naruya is one of my top favorite couples to read! To add onto that would be...well retarded! I'm going to shut up now and continue writing.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing at all...except the plot. You can try to take it from me, but I'll die before that happens!**

**Chapter 4: **_**Never Gonna Be Alone**_** by Nickelback**

* * *

"Do you think you can handle them?" Tsunade asked the Tokubetsu Jonin in front of her. She wasn't one to usually brag, but she was excited to stuff it in the civilian council's face when she tells them who Naruto and Tayuya picked for their sensei a week ago. Of course she was slightly disappointed that they didn't take Shizune off her hands. She really thought her apprentice needed a few days away from Konoha, or at least needed to relax when it came to her drinking! Honestly, she wasn't that bad of a drunk...most of the time...

"Piece o' cake," the Tokubetsu said with a grin, "The only thing I'm concerned about is Uzumaki's, err, _condition_."

"Oh that's no big problem," Tsunade replied with a wave of her hand, "He's done very well for the past few months, hasn't he Inu?"

An ANBU dropped from his hiding spot and spoke in a lazy tone, "Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Well at least you're getting back on time, Inu," she said with a small grin, "You're dismissed back to your duties."

"At your leave, Hokage-sama," Inu said once again before vanishing in a swirl of leaves. The Tokujo shook his head and put his hands in his pocket.

"That guy is _still_ too tense in my opinion to be an ANBU captain again," he said with a chuckle, "But, what are ya gonna do? You're the boss after all."

"I am indeed," the Hokage said with a small smirk before she turned to her apprentice, "Hear that, Shizune? _I'm_ the boss...So when I say give me my sake, I mean give me back _my_ sake!"

"No!" Shizune said from her spot sorting through the paperwork. She hadn't once faced the Tokujo since he entered, instead burying herself into the paperwork that Tsunade was neglecting.

"Stubborn brat," Tsunade grumbled before turning back to the Tokujo, "What the hell are you still doing here? Go test the two gakis already you fool!"

"Hai, hai, Hokage-sama," the man said with a nervous laugh as he backed out of the room, "At your leave."

A tick on Tsunade's head was starting to appear at his calm attitude and she barked "GO!"

The door shut with a soft click, but she could sense the chakra he used for his shunshin to leave the building. Tsunade rounded on her apprentice and crossed her arms under her bust with an eyeing stare. She knew Shizune could feel her questioning gaze, and she was getting even more pissed by the second that she was being ignored.

"Dammit Shizune!" Tsunade finally snapped, "What is your problem? Ever since Genma's stepped into the room, you retreated into your little corner. Not even Ton-Ton can get to you!"

Shizune turned around and smiled sheepishly, "I-I don't know what you're talking about, Tsunade-sempai..."

"Oh I think you do," Tsunade said with an evil smirk, "And if I had to guess, I think you had an old fling with Genma!"

Shizune hopped to her feet and shushed her sensei, "Tsunade-senpai! Y-You make it sound so...filthy."

"SO I'M RIGHT!" Tsunade accused with a grin, and in an evil moment of the alcohol-less state of mind she was in, she added, "Oh wait until Jiraiya gets a load of this tidbit of information..."

"TSUNADE-SAMA!" Shizune cried as her face turned all sorts of reds. Tsunade could be heard laughing from the outside of her office, frightening her secretary and other chunin assigned to the Hokage Tower.

* * *

Naruto relaxed against a tree as he listened to Tayuya go through her taijutsu katas. They were back at the Nidaime's Waterfall, and they couldn't be happier. Tayuya was officially a genin of Konohagakure, choosing to wear her hetai-ite on her skull cap. To go along with her new life, Tayuya has also changed her attire to wearing a fishnet T-shirt underneath a tan tank-top that was held close to her figure with a black belt she used to hold her weapons pouch. She had gloves and ANBU styled armguards as well as black running shorts with black sandals and ANBU shin guards. Naruto commented saying she looked pretty good when she met him at the ramen stand, and got a punch to the head from a flustered redhead.

The two had deemed the Nidaime's Waterfall their own training ground within the first week of going there. Several other teams had other training grounds, but this one was unique to the two teens. Naruto could practice the Suiton and Fuuton techniques he was learning from several scrolls he bought without risking chakra exhaustion, not that it would happen, and Tayuya could make plenty of spare flutes whenever she got the urge to carve one.

Tayuya's current battle flute was almost finished, just needing a few more tweaks here and there before she could fully test it on someone. That someone was going to be Naruto. They learned that like the other three Dojutsu, the Uzugan can see through genjutsu easily, mainly because it causes the user to lose their sight. Naruto had also mastered the first Dojutsu technique that came with his Uzugan, the **Kyoufu-Rerumu** or Fear Realm as it is also called. He has yet to use it on any human aside from the occasional drunk civilian that assaulted him or Tayuya or the civilian councilman that he had first used it on.

He snorted in amusement as he recalled the last time he had to use the **Kyoufu-Rerumu**. A poor drunk civilian who had lost first his wife in the Kyuubi attack and then his brother in the Oto/Suna Invasion stumbled towards them while they were at Ichiraku's. The drunk poorly attempted to slit Naruto's throat with a common switchblade. A fatal mistake to anyone who was rational, but in his hazed mind it would definitely work on a blind kid. The word 'Shinobi' didn't even occur to him until Naruto elbowed him in the gut, brought the same arm straight up, delivering an enclosed fist to his nose and caused him to stumble backwards a few feet. Tayuya, whose legs were about healed by now, stood and immediately came to her friend's defense with a thrust kick to the chest, effectively knocking him on his ass. While he writhed in pain on the ground, Naruto knelt over him and activated his **Kyoufu-Rerumu** from behind his hetai-ite. The man was screaming in fear within seconds of the technique's effect. Two ANBU had dropped down and took him to Konoha's ANBU I&T office about five minutes after Naruto dropped the genjutsu.

"Oi Shithead!" Tayuya's voice snapped him from his thoughts and he turned his head towards her slightly to indicate he had heard her.

Tayuya crossed her arms over her chest, "You better not be using that perverted mind of yours while you daydream to think of me!"

"Aw c'mon, Tayuya-chan!" Naruto cried back slightly insulted as he rolled onto his upper back before leaping up to his feet. With a small scowl he continued, "I wouldn't perv on anyone. I hate perverts, I refuse to be one!"

"Smart boy," a calm voice drawled from the entry to the training area they were in. Naruto and Tayuya snapped to their on guard positions, each now holding a kunai in each hand. A man stepped forward and they lowered their guard as small smiles slowly crept on their faces.

He was dressed in the usual Konohagakure shinobi fashion except his hetai-ite was in a reverse bandana that covered the top of his head. In his mouth was a senbon needle that looked like it was barely hanging within his mouth. He grinned at them with a small wave.

"Yo!" he said in a calm manner. Naruto rolled his eyes and put his kunai away as did Tayuya.

"So you're our new sensei, eh?" the blonde asked, tilting his head slightly in an effort to get a 'feel' for the new sensei.

"Yup," the Tokujo replied, "Shiranui Genma at your service. I'm surprised you chose me though, kid. I thought you'd want Kakashi still."

"Nah," Naruto said, sitting back down and resting against the tree he was lying against before, "I think Kakashi-sensei would be better off on his own than having to watch me again."

Genma chuckled, "Yeah, that's the truth."

He turned to look at Tayuya and nodded at her, "So how're you adjusting? Last I saw you; we were fighting to the death."

Tayuya scowled, "Don't remind me."

Naruto smiled and turned his head towards the redhead, "Relax Tayuya-chan. I'm sure Genma-sensei was only teasing."

Tayuya turned towards the lounging blonde and raised a fist, "What did you call me, you blind shrimp?"

"Nothing!" Naruto said quickly, waving his hands defensively in front of him but a smile was still on his face, "I certainly didn't call you Tayuya-chan, Tayuya-chan."

"That's it!" Tayuya shouted as she lunged at him. Naruto yelped and scrambled to his feet before dashing into the woods. Genma stood there slightly dumbfounded before he started laughing at the two teens' antics. He wiped a tear from his eye and grinned at the two teens as Tayuya tackled the blind blonde's legs. She pulled the blonde into a chokehold, causing Genma to laugh even harder than the first time.

"Ok you two," Genma said once he regained control of himself, "Enough horsing around. It's time for the usual test."

"Is it the retarded bell test that Kakashi-sensei does to test our teamwork?" Naruto asked. He was still in Tayuya's choke hold, so it came out kind of raspy. Genma arched a brow.

"No..." Genma drawled out, "I'm just going to go ahead and test you both in an all-out spar. It's over when I say it's over, understood?"

"You haven't changed since the finals," Naruto muttered as he and Tayuya stood opposite of him at the ready. The second he had said the word 'spar', Tayuya released the blind blonde and helped him up.

Genma smirked at Naruto's words, "Begin."

They didn't move. Genma arched a brow in curiosity. He was sure they would have gone to hide somewhere. _Maybe everyone was exaggerating over their changes,_ Genma thought, _They certainly seem cocky still._

"I said you could begin," he repeated. The two genin grinned, making the Tokujo slightly unnerved at the similarity between the smiles they had on their faces.

"We've already begun," they said simultaneously in a slightly creepy tone. Genma's eyes widened in realization and he thought, _Genjutsu!_ He put his hands into a ram seal and calmly said, "Kai!"

The images of the two genin standing at ready and grinning at him faded away, leaving him alone in the open area next to the waterfall. Genma narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth down on his senbon as he pulled a kunai out. Turning quickly he used his kunai to deflect the two shuriken that were thrown at him aiming at a vital spot. Genma grinned.

_Ok, I was wrong. They're good._ He thought, leaping away as a kunai with an explosion tag attached to it hit the ground, _But not good enough where I need to be worried._

"Hey sensei!" a voice called from behind him. Genma turned to see Naruto standing there with his arms in a ram seal and a small smile on his face. The Tokujo arched a brow and brought his arm back to throw his kunai but stopped when Naruto spoke again.

"**Oiroke no Jutsu!**" he said, vanishing in a puff of smoke. Genma's eyes widened in shock as the smoke cleared.

Standing in Naruto's stead was a very nude, blushing Shizune. She slowly stepped closer to Genma and spoke softly with a slight sultry tone.

"Genma-kun," she said, "Y-You don't want to hurt me, do you?"

Genma's mouth failed to operate as he felt blood leave his head. He couldn't look away or take notice of the kunai coming at him until the last moment. He switched out with a substitution of the closest object, said object being the **Oiroke no Jutsu** Naruto, and went back on guard, as well as trying to clear his mind.

_Scratch that, they are very good! They must be bordering on low chunin level. Maybe even higher,_ the Tokujo thought once his head was cleared, _using an old flame to cloud my mind and distract me while attacking me from a hidden location. And I'll bet that was just a Kage Bunshin, too. Very smart._

* * *

"Remind me to smack you upside the head when we're done with this," Tayuya growled to the blonde she was seated next to in their hidden location. Naruto pouted back at her when his clone dispersed and he got the memory of the look on Genma's face.

"Hey it worked didn't it?" the blonde muttered, "Besides, we have him right where we want him. Just gotta get him a little more confident that he has this fight in the bag. Remember, this was your plan, Tayuya-chan."

"Whatever shithead," Tayuya grumbled as she pulled her flute out and readied it in her hands, "I'm going to initiate part two."

* * *

Genma heard a sudden soft tune float through the air and readied his guard once again. He shook his head as his mind began to feel foggy in an effort to clear it once again. He looked around to see many of his deceased allies start bursting from the ground with their weapons still in hand. He dropped his grin and readied his kunai.

_Well this is bad,_ Genma thought as he deflected one of the attempted katana attacks thrown his way from the seemingly resurrected Konoha shinobi. He impaled his kunai into the shoulder of one and kicked him away with a thrust kick to the chest. The zombie then stood back up and attacked again, this time actually making contact with its weapon, slicing across Genma's forearm. The Tokubetsu Jonin snarled and backhanded the zombie with a chakra enhanced fist before cradling his arm and checking the damage. He looked to see the zombie's images flicker and change into several skeletal beings without skin, but all wearing old samurai-like armor.

_That was a genjutsu over them!_ Genma realized, brushing the pain in his arm away, _The fogginess in my mind and headache afterwards was an attempt at a small mind reading to use as a cover for their true attack! These must be some type of summon that Tayuya has, unless Naruto's eyes allow him to control the dead, which I hope isn't the case._

He deflected another skeleton-samurai's attack and delivered a powerful kick to its head, knocking it clean off. The samurai comically grabbed at its head before dropping to its hands and knees and began looking for the missing appendage. The other skeleton samurai looked from their headless acquaintance back to their target before charging at once, their katanas raised and a slightly deranged war cry emitting from them.

Genma fought off the skeletons with his kunai, struggling because he was largely outnumbered. With a grunt, he shoved a skeleton on his left back before realigning his senbon into the center of his mouth and focusing chakra to his lungs, he shot the senbon at the skeleton, shattering its skull. He then used his now free left hand to knock the head of the skeleton in front of him off with a chakra enhanced punch. It was nowhere near as strong as Tsunade's punch, but it would work well enough to knock a bonehead apart.

Continuing his little game of 'Knock Their Skulls Off', Genma soon found himself free of all the skeletons present. Pulling a new senbon out and sticking it in his mouth, he said, "Good try though, guys! It might have worked had that genjutsu not worn off! You might as well just try taking me head on in taijutsu instead of this long ranged crap!"

From their spot in the woods, Naruto looked at Tayuya with a grin.

"Seems like sensei's calling us out," the blind boy said to his redheaded friend, "Should we entertain him or stick to the plan and humiliate him to no end?"

"Hey, either way he gets humiliated," Tayuya replied with a small smirk, "Why don't you go try your new taijutsu off and I'll back you up? Remember, don't show him everything. We've gotta keep him on his toes, shithead."

Naruto saluted with a gleeful grin, "Will do, Tayuya-chan!"

The blonde then ran from their spot towards their sensei's position. He was excited to try his new taijutsu out. It was a blend of Jyuken and Goken, the perfect mix of the two. At first, he was tempted to try and blend the names together as well, but they just sounded stupid. It took a moment of thinking, but he eventually came to name his style Kanzenken, or Complete Fist. The reason behind the name is it blended both the Jyuken grace with the power behind the Goken. It was also similar to an old martial art known as Tai Chi Chao, something he had read when he was in the academy.

The base of his taijutsu's theory was this; to use an opponent's momentum against them with the graceful deflections of any Hyuuga's Jyuken before countering with an offense powerful enough to match even Maito Gai's Goken. He had been practicing the technique long and hard in secret, usually leaving a clone to watch Tayuya when he did so. It was mainly in the first month that he first came across this inspiration when he was thinking about what taijutsu would be best to use against Sasuke when their paths crossed again.

Naruto stopped his thoughts from wandering when he landed a few feet away from his sensei. A smile was on the genin's face as he noted the surprise that came across Genma's face when he landed. He whistled quietly before lifting his head slightly and looking at his new sensei with his unique sight.

"You called?" he asked. Genma chuckled.

"I should have figured you would come face me, Naruto," Genma said with a grin, "But that was according to my plan. You're so hotheaded that you can't ignore a challenge."

Ignoring the jibe to his past self, Naruto grinned and slipped his jacket off before falling into his Kanzenken stance. His hands were both in front of him, the right being slightly behind the left, loosely being held up by relaxed yet tense arms. His right leg was placed behind him while his left stayed directed towards his new sensei. It was very similar to Neji's Jyuken stance when they faced off at the Chunin Exams, the only difference being Naruto's hands were not formed into complete palms and his right leg was only resting on the ball of his foot, though it was barely noticeable. Genma arched a brow.

"Jyuken, eh?" the tokujo said, referring to the way Naruto held himself. Genma shrugged before settling into the basic taijutsu stance most jonin of Konoha knew, Hiken, or Fire Fist. It had nothing to do with the element, more being named after the country it was practiced in. Genma's hands came up in fists and his legs bent slightly at the knee as he slid his left leg behind his body. The Hiken beginning stance was similar to Maui Thai, practiced in the temples of Hi no Kuni, most likely where it was developed, but the similarities stopped after that. Genma shifted the senbon in his mouth to the other side before smiling and opening his palm to give Naruto a taunting wave along with saying, "Show me what'cha got."

Naruto grinned, moving forward and delivering a predictable right jab towards Genma's face. As he expected, Genma expertly caught it in his left hand and threw his own right hook. Naruto countered it with his left hand, moving it around Genma's flying fist clockwise before smacking it away, thus leaving Genma's whole right side open for attack. The blind shinobi then delivered his own left shovel hook punch to the tokujo in the ribs.

Genma's mouth opened at the sudden amount of pain he felt. The senbon was even slowly falling out of its spot from the left side of his mouth. He couldn't even try to counter, because Naruto then delivered a dual palm thrust to his chest, sending him skidding backwards. While Genma cradled his cracked, possibly broken ribs, Naruto was already rushing towards him before leaping up and twisting to the right with an attempted roundhouse kick that was blocked by Genma's right arm as he kept his ribs cradled with his left.

_Holy hell!_ Genma thought as he pushed Naruto away with his arm and started a low healing jutsu to fix the pain in his side, _What the Hell was that? I've never seen anyone use strength like that in a Jyuken attack! It was like Gai hit me with a "love tap" of his when we spar! Note to self: Don't underestimate Naruto...Damn, it still hurts like a bitch!_

Once he was through healing himself, Genma reset himself into his original stance, his eyes narrowed at the slightly smiling blonde across from him. This time Genma made the first move. He feigned a right punch before suddenly switching into a left straight punch. Naruto caught the fist in his left hand at an angle, as though he was redirecting it away from him. Genma didn't even blink as he turned his attack into a right hook, still aimed at the blonde's face. Naruto's left hand slapped the approaching fist aside again before he imbedded his right knee into Genma's stomach. The tokujo winced and stumbled backwards.

Rubbing his stomach, Genma couldn't help but smile at Naruto. _Damn he's pretty good. Guess sparring with Sasuke for a year helped. Not to mention becoming friends with Hyuuga Neji and Rock Lee...wait a minute..._

Genma watched as Naruto re-settled into his stance once again, still having a small smile on his face, before a realization hit him. Genma blanched as he swore he saw a ghostly visage of Hyuuga Neji and Rock Lee standing behind Naruto, both in their own stances with their usual smile or smirk on their face. The Tokubetsu jonin couldn't believe it. This kid, this genin, with no real training, no sensei for the past four and a half, almost five months, had successfully found a way to blend the esteemed Jyuken of the Hyuuga Clan and the respectable Goken of Konoha's Green Beast. If Genma ever doubted this boy's intellect before, he sure didn't do so now. It's not like it was easy to successfully blend two fighting styles, heck Hiken is still changing to this day, being modified slightly by every shinobi that uses it to match their own persona. Slowly, a stupid grin came across Genma's face as he thought to himself a single sentence.

_I am so fucking lucky._

Genma rushed Naruto again, this time twisting his waist back for a right side kick. Naruto used both his hands to block it. Holding Genma's leg in place with both hands, the blind boy then leapt off the ground to deliver a side dropkick into the stomach. Genma released a gasp before bringing his left elbow down into the back of the suspended genin. His eyes widened when his attack went through an afterimage of the blonde and he could no longer feel the feet that used to be implanted in his stomach. The tokujo looked left and right for the blonde before he looked down.

The ground cracked beneath his feet and Genma leaned back and away from the underground uppercut that he had seen defeat Neji in the Chunin Exam finals. He delivered a right hook to the face of the blind blonde, only for him to vanish in a puff of smoke. Genma then snapped his head up as Naruto came down with a falling axe kick. Genma found himself eating dirt after that kick before he slowly stood back up. Naruto delivered a snap kick to the back of the tokujo's head, only for him to dissolve in a patch of dirt.

"Mud Clone?" Naruto muttered in confusion. He focused his hearing on his surroundings and barely leapt aside in time to dodge a large fireball that was flying at the previous spot he occupied. The charred ground from the large fireball smelt horrible and Naruto had to take a moment to stop the chakra flow to his nose.

It was enough time for Genma to take advantage and follow through with a surprise assault. The blonde immediately went back to his defensive tactics, blocking and redirecting Genma's attacks. Genma couldn't help but grin even larger than before.

"You've come a hell of a long way, kid," Genma said, "Did you drop that dream of yours as well?"

Naruto's grin was all he needed to see that he hadn't, and when Naruto caught both of Genma's fists in front of him, Genma tensed and readied for a counterattack. Imagine his surprise when Naruto pushed his arms aside and dove between the tokujo's spread legs. Genma looked up just in time to see the sandal covered foot of his other student fly at him. The flying kick sent Genma skidding back and easily bruised his jaw. The tokujo cradled his jaw and looked back at the red haired girl with amazement.

"Now Naruto!" she shouted. Her flute went to her lips and a harmonic tune appeared. Genma felt his whole body freeze and watched through widened eyes as the blind blonde landed a few feet from him with his palms outstretched. Naruto then pulled his hands back as he faded from sight with a shunshin. He reappeared in front of Genma and clenched his fists as chakra enshrouded them. The tokujo's eyes widened even further at that sight, making the blonde and redhead behind him grin.

"**Kanzenken: Kuchiku-Kan! (Complete Fist: Destroyer!)**" Naruto shouted as he drove his chakra enshrouded fists into Genma's barely healed ribs. The results were as the blonde had expected; Genma's ribcage broke, but didn't drive into his lungs (Naruto had held back), and sent the experienced shinobi flying. Genma collided with a building near the training area, not forming any real damage, before falling to the ground unconscious.

* * *

"I think you killed him," Tayuya said as she nudged the unconscious shinobi with her foot. Naruto scoffed as he pulled his jacket back on.

"He's alive," the blonde assured, "Wouldn't hurt to go turn him into the hospital, though. So what do you think? Does he pass?"

"We're lucky to have caught him off guard with our well placed teamwork," Tayuya said as she watched the blonde pick their unconscious sensei up before shaking her head, "You and your freaky strength, I swear."

Naruto frowned and readjusted his hold on their sensei, slinging him over his shoulder, before replying, "I'd like to think we did better than when we practiced it. At least I didn't have to use **Kyoufu-Rerumu**."

After dropping their sensei off at the hospital, the two genin went to their second favorite hangout. Their apartment complex. They'd done several miniature training exercises while in their apartment. Hide and Seek, with Naruto forming several clones to make it that much more difficult for the blindfolded Tayuya, was one such game-turned-training exercise. Naruto would leave a few clones behind to watch as Tayuya focused her senses throughout the apartment to locate the original and his clones that were hiding their chakra signatures; a clone would disperse once she accurately guess the location of one of Naruto's clones, giving the clone or original the knowledge that they had been found out and thus, would return to the room Tayuya was in. She could now sense chakra signatures from over a 500 feet diameter thanks to the many levels in the apartment.

Currently, as they were walking, Naruto was telling Tayuya of one of his pranking experiments.

"And then I shoved the explosive note back into my pocket and high tailed it out of there," the blonde finished. Tayuya was laughing up a storm at his story and was trying her best to keep her balance.

"That's why there's a dent in the Shodai's forehead?" Tayuya managed to get out. As Naruto nodded, her laughing fit returned full force and she had to lean on the blonde for support.

A few passerbys thought the two made a cute couple and smiled in their direction. Unaware of the passerbys' opinions, Naruto then helped Tayuya rebalance herself by placing his arm around her shoulders. A certain pale haired blonde who was minding her family flower store watched the two with wide eyes. As soon as the two left her sight, the girl closed the store and rushed over to her newest friend, TenTen (as Sakura still hadn't recovered from the hospital, nor did Ino forgive her friend for acting so...well, crazy), and discuss gossip. It was little known, but TenTen did indeed enjoy more feminine things, she just also happened to enjoy her tomboyish ways.

_Who would have thought that Naruto, the goofball of the century, would first swear Sasuke's death, leave Sakura in the dust, and then hook up with a former enemy?_ Ino thought as she ran to TenTen's Team's training ground.

Had Ino decided to follow the two, and you all know she had considered it, she would have discovered that they both vanished in a puff of smoke. Naruto buried his face into his free arm to sneeze away the smoke that had gone up it. An adjoining sneeze alerted him that Tayuya had also been affected by the sudden smoke that engulfed them. An elderly chuckle that was familiar to the blonde hit their ears.

"Well, well," Fukasaku's voice said with an amused tone, "It seems the boy has done better than you in the female department, eh Jiraiya-chan?"

"If he's at all like you, Jiraiya, I'll send you to sensei myself!" Tsunade's voice said from beyond the smoke.

"I'm so proud!" Jiraiya's voice exclaimed with joy as he wiped an unseen tear from his eye.

Naruto focused his 'sight' on his surroundings to see he was in the Hokage's office. The smoke had cleared and Tayuya was nursing her stomach, still leaning against the blonde she had been before, when Fukasaku's words reached the teens' heads. Naruto and Tayuya looked in horror to see Naruto's arm still draped over Tayuya's shoulders. With a combined yelp, the two teens leapt to opposite sides of the room, as far away from each other as they could have been.

"WE ARE NOT TOGETHER!" Tayuya roared at the smirking Sanin and amused Toad elder. Naruto however blinked and looked at the residue of smoke then back at Fukasaku with a slack jaw to show his shock.

"Did...did you _summon_ me, err, us?" Naruto asked the toad. Tayuya, having heard what her friend said, looked at the Toad with wide eyes as he chuckled with amusement.

"The contract goes both ways, Naruto-chan," Fukasaku said with mirth, "Surely, Jiraiya-chan informed you of when he'd be taking you on your training trip."

The blinded blonde scowled and glared through his hetai-ite at the nervously sweating Sanin before replying, "Actually no. He didn't. Tayuya-chan and I just returned from training with our new sensei! Am I supposed to just leave them behind?"

Realizing his words, Naruto looked over at a shocked Tayuya. Her voice no louder than a whisper, she said, "Y-You're leaving?"

Tayuya couldn't imagine her life in Konoha without the blonde. He was her best friend, heck, he was her _only_ friend.

Before Naruto could defend himself, Tsunade spoke up, "He is leaving, Tayuya. This was decided long before you two were even acquainted. As you both have just injured your sensei, his lung was pierced by the way." Naruto winced and Tayuya sent him an 'I told you so' glare before Tsunade continued, "He'll live, but his recovery will take time. As will his own training. You two surpassed what we have witnessed or imagined you would be capable of. Jiraiya will be taking the both of you out of the village on a two and a half year long training trip."

"Both of us/them?" Naruto, Tayuya, and Jiraiya roared in shock. The white haired man was very disappointed now. He had planned not only on training Naruto to control his biju, but on how to be a selfless pervert like himself. These plans, however, might be sidetracked if he had to take his godson's love interest with them. However, a new thought appeared in the esteemed writer's head. To use his godson in such a way is horrible...but for his fans, he must do the immoral and spy on his godson!

As the drool rolled down the Sanin's mouth at what great writing inspiration he could come up with, Tayuya and Naruto felt huge weights fall off their shoulders. Naruto was afraid of leaving Tayuya behind, because like her, he considered her his best friend. After the Traitor's...well, you know, he thought he would become obsessed with bringing him back. Then Itachi did what he did and Tsunade had appointed him Tayuya's bodyguard and the rest is history. Tayuya was personally afraid of _being_ alone in the village she was once, and still slightly is because of how they had treated her friend, hostile to. She knew what the villagers were capable of, and although she was sure she could handle herself, she doubted that without Naruto to help back her up on her feet, she'd be an emotional and stressed wreck.

The two then grinned at each other before looking up at Jiraiya, who was still drooling at the thought of new novel ideas, and Tsunade. Tsunade smirked before looking back at her teammate and scowling.

With a well-placed chakra infused punch to the gonads, Jiraiya was sent soaring over the Konoha horizon. Tears of pain rained over several people, making them wonder if a water technique go wrong had started a rain shower. This thought was dashed as the familiar cry of pain that followed Jiraiya echoed through the area.

Tayuya watched with wide eyes before looking back at a seemingly bored Naruto and saying, "I take back whatever shit I have said about the Hag."

Naruto, Fukasaku, and Tsunade all shared al laugh at that before the two blondes began telling Tayuya what to watch out for when they went on their training trip. Hearing of the pervert's favorite pastimes with his travels made Tayuya boil over before a thought occurred to her. Unexpectedly, she delivered a roundhouse kick to Naruto's face, making the blonde fly through the wall of Tsunade's office and land dazed next to the Hokage's secretary. Tayuya dusted her hands off and scowled, "That's for that fucking jutsu, you fucking little perverted excuse for a shithead!"

* * *

"Are you sure, Ino?" TenTen asked from her spot sitting on the counter of her family's weapon store. The shop was closed as soon as Ino rushed in with the news. Her father was away on a materials deal so she was in control of the shop, hence how she closed it when Ino rushed in.

"I'm positive!" the Yamanaka said with a assured voice, "Naruto is dating that Tayuya girl. The lucky bitch..."

TenTen arched a brow, "Ino...are you jealous?"

"A little," Ino admitted, "But if you'd seen him after he stepped out of a shower..."

"Whoa!" TenTen said as she fell back off the counter from shock. With a quick twist, TenTen landed on her feet and stood with her hands supporting her on the counter, "Yamanaka Ino, what have I told you about stalking boys?"

"I wasn't stalking him!" Ino said before turning sheepish, "It was during the whole breaking and entering thing with Forehead. He just waltzed out of the shower with a perfectly toned body for the world to see!"

TenTen reached over the counter and smacked Ino over the back of the head. Ino cried out in a yelp and glared back at the weapons mistress. TenTen put her hands on her hips, "What have I told you about being a fan girl? I thought you've learned from the B&E."

"I know..." Ino replied with a slightly defeated tone, "But...I can't help it! He was so...so..._dreamy_."

TenTen sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance, "What am I going to do with you?"

Ino leaned against her surrogate sister, "Love me the way I am and help me get a lock of Naruto's hair?"

TenTen looked down at the blonde with a slightly disturbed glance. With a voice matching her look, TenTen said, "Please tell me you were joking. Please?"

Ino grinned coyly and stood back on her own with her arms crossed, "Maybe I am, and maybe I'm not. If you'd have seen Naruto when I did, you might drop that little crush you have on your Hyuuga teammate."

TenTen turned bright red and looked away, "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Sure, uh-huh," Ino said with a smirk, "And I'm planning on joining the Youth Warriors tomorrow. You know you have it bad for Neji!"

* * *

They were unaware of the angered pink haired girl that was plotting against the red haired whore that did something to destroy the easily controllable Uzumaki Naruto she once had wrapped around her finger. Sakura scowled as she listened in on the conversation between TenTen and Ino. Naruto would never threaten Sasuke, and it was only after he started hanging out with her did he change. She was sure that's why Naruto had threatened her before. He always said she was the love of his life, all until the red haired bitch named Tayuya came into the picture.

_I'll show her to ruin my life!_ Sakura thought blindly, _First she lured Sasuke away from me, then she has the gull to take my loyal manservant Uzumaki Naruto from me! I'll show her. I'll show her why you never mess with a Haruno!_

The pink haired girl resumed her sharpening of her kunai and glanced over at the image of the redheaded girl and Naruto sitting together at Ichiraku's. She had been following them for the past week, watching them in order to determine Tayuya's weakness. She noticed that Naruto's attire changed to one similar to that of Tsunade's, while Tayuya wore clothes more similar to how many female shinobi in Konoha dressed. Slutty in Sakura's opinion. Wearing tight clothing to enhance certain curves in certain spots and attract more men that thought possible by some civilian girls. Even TenTen and Ino wore clothes that showed off their figure. She was sure that it was Tayuya's looks that turned Naruto against her, he was a boy after all, so with no brain and all testosterone, that had to be the only logical solution.

"Well if I'm going to get my revenge against that whore," Sakura said to her reflection in the mirror, "I might as well first turn Naruto against her once again. Time to fight fire with fire."

* * *

**AN: Sakura's so evil! I love it. Personally I very much HATE the shrieking girl, as most can see from my fics, but I don't always make her or other Haruno characters 'evil'. It's just more fun for me. Naruto and Tayuya will be going with Jiraiya on the training trip, I wonder if this will affect their relationship at all? How will the rookies adapt to Naruto's newfound skills, or how he reacts to Tayuya? Guess you'll all have to read on and find out, won't you? Oh, and don't worry about Genma. He's sure to have more interaction with the two 'genin' in time, first he's got to get his personal life in order. R&R. PEACE.**


	5. Fook You

**BEEN FOREVER SINCE I WORKED ON THIS! THANK YOU ALL FOR STICKING IT OUT AND WAITING! WHY AM I SHOUTING? PLEASE ENJOY THE CHAPTER!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything aside from the plot...I gotta go cry about it now...**

**Chapter 5: **_**F**k You**_** by Cee Lo Green**

* * *

"I said I was sorry, shithead, geez," Tayuya said with an eye roll as Naruto got patched up by Shizune, wincing and yelping as the medic plucked bits of wall out of his body. The blind blonde winced as Shizune cleaned one of his cuts. This one happened to be on the small of his back, meaning he was shirtless. Tayuya was so glad the blonde was blind so that he couldn't see her blush.

"Ow! Watch it, neechan! That shit burns," Naruto groaned before he looked in the direction Tayuya was in, "And I said I forgive you, Tayuya-chan."

Tayuya grumbled at the suffix that was added, making the other two adults present smirk in amusement. Jiraiya turned to Tsunade and said loudly so the two teens could hear him, "Looks like you're going to be playing the priestess when they get hitched. I have a sexy nun costume you can use."

Tayuya and Naruto's heads snapped in his direction as Tsunade kneed him in the gut and he released a yelp from the impact. A pencil suddenly flew into his thigh and he screamed in pain before looking up to see the beet red face of Naruto glaring in his direction. Not to be left out, Tayuya quickly played the notes that summoned one of her doki and had it bash the perverted sage's face in with its large club via an upwards vertical swing. The three felt much better as the white haired man groaned in pain on the ground on his back.

"Stupid baka..."

"Fucking perverted dumbass..."

"Ero-sennin..."

Shizune giggled as Naruto settled back down and she resumed plucking the debris from his back. Tayuya put her flute away, her doki vanishing as she sat back down on Naruto's left. She looked at the blonde grumbling and wincing with each piece of wall that was pulled from his back. The redheaded girl felt her face heat up slightly as she looked at the whiskered blonde. Tayuya wasn't sure when, why, or most importantly _how_ she had fallen for the blonde shinobi she deemed a shithead, but she was sure that she had.

It was dealing with the foreign feelings that would be the pain in the ass.

* * *

**~~The Next Day~~**

"Take my Naruto-baka slave away from me, eh?" Sakura grumbled as she pulled a tight form fitting vest on over her stuffed bra. The deranged pinkette had pulled black running shorts on underneath a pink skirt, her idea of looking 'slutty'. She hardly wore make-up because of the etiquette classes the academy had taught, the classes she was exceptional at because of her mother's and father's diplomacy ways. The pinkette pressed her nonexistent breasts together and adjusted them through her vest in the mirror of her bedroom.

"We'll just see who he's attracted to when he sees me," Sakura muttered before standing and leaving her room, intent on finding her blonde slave and the whore that caused all this trouble.

* * *

"AHH-CHOO!" Naruto sneezed before rubbing under his nose, earning a smack to the back of the head from his companion.

"Cover your damn nose, shithead!" Tayuya scolded, "I don't wanna catch a fucking cold!"

"Maa, maa," Naruto waved her off as he rubbed the crown of his head. He rolled his neck before sighing and looking around as they walked the streets of Konoha, a wad of cash from Tsunade for their upcoming trip. Naruto looked down at his sandaled feet for a moment before snapping his fingers and grinning.

"Now I remember what I wanted!" the blonde said as he made a sudden left into the Dragon's Den, a store commonly used by many shinobi. Tayuya blinked in confusion before rushing after her blonde friend. Naruto walked around the shop, earning small glares from two other patrons as well as confused glances from children shopping with their parents as the new Academy. His headband was secure around his eyes, allowing him to walk around with his eyes open and his Uzugan letting him see as he moved.

"Now...where are...ah!" Naruto quietly exclaimed before grabbing two blue geta shoes, looking at the price before shrugging and tucking them under his arm. He continued to walk, aware that Tayuya had ventured away from him and went to look at the women's section, before stopping in front of a sword that had a slight curve to it and looked like the combination of a sai and a katana. He grabbed it and went to the counter, setting his items there, before smiling.

"Hi TenTen-chan," the blonde said to his brown haired friend, making her smile back before she stared at the blade he had chosen. The bun haired girl looked up at the blind blonde with slight confusion.

"Uh, Naruto...You do know you have a sword, right?" TenTen asked with a furrowed brow. Naruto nodded and tapped the sheath.

"Sheath too," the blonde said with a smile, "I know what I'm getting, TenTen."

TenTen shook her head and sighed before starting to ring the supplies he purchased up. Naruto drummed his fingers on the counter before stepping to the left as Tayuya walked up onto his right, a bundle of clothes and supplies in her arms. The blind blonde snickered.

"Got enough?" Naruto asked the redhead before getting elbowed in the side, "OW! Tay-chan, that's like the seventh time you've hit me!"

"Stop being a shithead and I'll stop hitting you," Tayuya scowled at him and smacked the back of his head when he reached out to examine her pile, her face turning a shade of red when his hand grazed one of the more private articles she picked out for herself. "Don't touch my stuff!"

"Ok, ok!" Naruto whimpered as he rubbed his wrist, "Geez...no need to hit me about it..."

"Shithead," Tayuya muttered under her blush before looking up into the scrutinizing eyes of TenTen. Narrowing her own brown eyes at the weapon mistress, Tayuya growled, "Something better be on my fucking face, or you'd better look away, bitch!"

_Oh crap!_ Naruto thought as he looked at the infuriated, weapon-using girl trying to comprehend the sentence given in Tayuya's anger.

"What was that?" TenTen growled back, sliding the clothes Tayuya picked out into a bag and leaning over the counter to stare down the genjutsu kunoichi, "Wanna run that by me again, _Oto-hime_?"

"Girls..." Naruto tried to placate the fight that was about to start in front of him.

"What'd you say to me, Weapon's Whore?" Tayuya snarled, her fists clenching in anger.

"You heard me, Slut," the bun haired girl growled. A small crowd was starting to gather.

"Girls!" Naruto tried to intervene yet again, only to be hit with a small pencil thrown by a kid nearly two years younger than himself. The blonde glared at the kid, making the kid back away from the shinobi with a headband around his eyes, before looking back and scowling at the situation.

Tayuya and TenTen kept their glares locked on each other and ignored the blind boy that was trying to keep a fight from breaking out. Tayuya gritted her teeth while she pulled out her flute and TenTen reached for a small kunai that was kept under the counter for safe keeping. Thinking quickly, Naruto looked around before spotting a man flipping through a magazine and used his Uzugan to put a small genjutsu on him.

"HE'S READING ICHA-ICHA NAKED!" the blonde exclaimed, earning everyone's attention and making the two upset girls cool down as a mother grabbed her nearby child, sneering at the apparent pervert (who was looking around in confusion for the guy reading Icha-Icha), before leaving the store with a huff. Naruto slapped the wad of bills on the counter, pulled all of Tayuya's clothes into a sealing scroll, slung the sword over his shoulder while carrying the shoes and grabbed the confused/cooling down redhead's arm before quickly leaving the store.

"See ya, TenTen-chan! Have a good day!" Naruto called over his shoulder as he rushed Tayuya back to their apartment complex before either girl could recall their anger with the other. TenTen dumbly stared at them before scowling as she recalled Tayuya's words to her.

"THIS ISN'T OVER, REDHEAD!" TenTen shouted just as Naruto made it out the door.

"COUNT ON IT, SAM-WHORE-EYE!" Tayuya shouted back while looking over her shoulder to the door. Naruto sighed and diverted his destination to their training ground.

Tayuya needed to release some steam, and if the blind blonde had anything to say about it, it wasn't going to be on him.

* * *

"Where could they be?" Sakura growled as she stormed through Konoha, making several people blink in confusion as the scantly-dressed kunoichi walked passed them. Some looked to their fellow villager for answers, earning various (and inaccurate) hypothesizes. The pink haired kunoichi barely resisted the urge to shriek in fury and call their names out.

An idea suddenly occurred to her, though. It was a stretch and risky idea, but an idea nonetheless. With her new plan in mind, Sakura went towards Team Gai's training field, intent on talking to a certain bun-haired girl who would possibly (and most likely) be accompanied by a platinum blonde. Sakura wasn't sure why Ino had been ignoring and avoiding her, but she was sure that she hadn't done anything wrong.

Sakura least expected to walk past a training ground where a familiar and vulgar exclamation earned her attention. Curious, the pinkette dressed like a five-dime hooker went towards the nearest training ground, and her eyes widened at what she saw...and heard.

* * *

"Motherfucking bitch! That goddamn, faggot-fucking sword-masturbating nympho!" Tayuya snarled as she furiously punched at a tree with her bare fists. Naruto leaned against a tree that had large slashes in the bark, a rather large sword attached to his back as well as new shoes on his feet. Unseen by Sakura, as well as not noticing her, his face was slightly red from the words, and their usage, that Tayuya was throwing around casually in her anger. He wondered if her anger was his own fault or because she hadn't expected TenTen to snap at her.

The Rookie Nine had been avoiding them ever since their confrontation, but shortly afterwards the members of the SRS had come to reintroduce themselves. Naruto smirked as he recalled Shikamaru's unnatural eye-twitch at his teammate's assumption of the non-existent relationship between the lazy Nara chunin and Temari. He also recalled her bold assumption of Kiba's inter-species tendencies, due to his poor attempt at flirting with her, exclaiming, "You're sick! You and your whole clan are a bunch of dog-fuckers!" The beating Kiba got after trying to defend his clan's name was enjoying to watch, but Naruto stepped in and stopped Tayuya as soon as she got to enjoy herself, knowing her rage towards the SRS had dimmed, but rekindled when they had met again at the Ramen Stand.

Neji and Choji wanted nothing to do with Tayuya's anger, so they merely apologized. Rather than tear them up like she had Kiba or break them like she had Shikamaru, the poor chunin has been seen twitching a lot lately whenever Suna came up in a conversation; Tayuya simply snorted and proclaimed her dislike of the two they had killed. Naruto frowned as he recalled her recent night terrors that had started after she spoke of her dead teammates.

_Maybe you didn't like them, Tay-chan,_ the blonde thought as he listened to his new teammate pound on the poor oak's bark, _but I think you were afraid of them...not their strengths or appearances, but them in general. If only you'd open up, then maybe I could help you._

"Oi, Shithead!" Tayuya's peeved cry earned the blonde's attention and he snapped his fingers once to regain his sight. What he saw made him whistle in shock. Tayuya's knuckles were slightly scraped and her hands showed slight bruising, but it wasn't the redhead's hands that made him whistle, rather the tree's outcome. The poor sapling had been carved a new hole that day, and from the dents on the fresh wood being revealed, Naruto was sure that a small rainstorm could knock it down if the winds were strong enough. Looking back at his teammate, Naruto pushed off his tree and smiled slightly as he walked towards her.

"Feel better, Tay-chan?" the blonde said before nursing a smack, "OW! Dammit, I thought we had a deal!"

"Now, I feel better," Tayuya said, shaking her left hand slightly and looking away; mentally berating herself for feeling so nervous when he smiled at her like that. She knew why his small smiles, laughs, or occasional stupidity gave her butterflies in her stomach, but at the same time, she wished that it didn't happen at all, that he would only be her teammate and not a boy she liked. Not even the knowledge that he was a couple of years younger than him or that he was a jinchuriki dimmed the yearning for his company Tayuya felt when she was in bed at night. The thought of the blonde just laying with her in bed made her heartbeat increase as the blood rushed to her face.

Naruto furrowed his brows in confusion as he heard her heartbeat increase; and not due to the adrenaline either. Before he could ask about it, the blonde and redhead looked over at the shrieking intruder.

"You stay away from Naruto!" Sakura shrieked as she stormed onto the training ground. Naruto had to do his best not to gape at the ridiculous way his former teammate and crush looked, and he nearly joined Tayuya in with her snickering. The pinkette looked unbalanced in her ridiculously high kunoichi heels, and there was a visual of something small and paper-like hanging over the top of her shirt where a large lump seemed to be.

"S-Sakura?" he managed to asked, thankfully keeping a confused look on his face and not bursting into laughter like his new teammate. Tayuya, when necessary, could keep herself in check...but seeing some pink haired girl storm over to them, dressed like a slut (a cheap one), the redhead couldn't help but laugh.

Sakura tried to send a sultry smile Naruto's way, but all it did was make him nervous as she made a strange face in his direction. It wasn't one of those angry/embarrassed smiles she gave before she beat him for something he did wrong, and the blonde felt it was so unnatural.

He contemplated placing a genjutsu on Shino's face to make him smile sometime, just to get rid of the visual before him.

"Na-ru-to-kun," Sakura purred, further freaking the blonde out as he not-so-subtly pinched his own back to wake himself from the nightmare or genjutsu he was in, "Why don't you and I go to Ichiraku's and we can have a date?"

Now that snapped Tayuya from her laughing fit. Naruto's confusion grew when the beautiful laughs that came from his normally enraged teammate stopped and her heart slowed. The blonde blinked before nearly jumping out of his skin when Sakura clung to his arm, pulling it in-between her non-existent breasts.

"Come on..." she whined, "Please?"

"...Sakura...are you ok?" Naruto cautiously asked, his normal rage when being near his dim ex-teammate dropping as he became further and further creeped out.

"I'm fine, Naruto-kun," Naruto noted that she seemed to be forcing the suffix on his name as well as the smile she was giving him. Her teeth were grinding slightly...or was it Tayuya's?

That realization made Naruto glance back at his current teammate. Tayuya's mouth was shut and her posture screamed 'Don't give a fuck about what's going on', but her hands were clenching tightly into fists and the grinding coming from her mouth was getting louder...as well as a soft growl that came from her throat. The blonde blinked in confusion when a soft voice suddenly whispered, "I'm not wearing any panties, Naruto-kun..."

That statement made the blonde jump away from Sakura, his new blade out and in a reversed hold as he glared coldly at the pinkette. Sakura blinked in confusion before scowling at looking at Tayuya.

"Whatever genjutsu you put on him, take it off!" the genin banshee screeched to the irritated redhead, "There's no way Naruto is not being held in a genjutsu! He wouldn't betray Sasuke-kun like this hypnotized baka is and he would never hurt me! What did you do to him?"

Tayuya's posture dropped into that of a fighting style and before Sakura saw it coming, a fist was in her stomach and the air left her mouth. Naruto cursed under his breath before sheathing his blade and walking towards them.

"I didn't do shit to him!" Tayuya snarled as Sakura fell to the ground in a coughing fit, "I wouldn't ever put Shithead in a genjutsu!"

"L-Liar!" Sakura shrieked as soon as she regained some breath. Naruto shook his head and placed a hand on Tayuya's shoulder when the redhead's face contorted in a scowl and she went for her flute.

"It's not worth it, Tayuya-chan," Naruto said as he started to lead the redhead away from the still coughing pinkette, "Sakura is and always will be a loyal member of the Sasuke-Ass-Kissing Club...like the rest of her family is."

Sakura scowled and slowly got to her feet, unnoticed by the two leaving the training ground. Her eyes were narrowed in anger and in her last ditch effort, Sakura pulled a kunai from her back pouch, rushing towards Tayuya. Infuriated that the redhead had forced her 'bitch' to betray her and her Sasuke-kun, Sakura leapt up with a yell and brought the kunai over her head.

"DIE YOU FUCKING BITCH!" the pinkette shrieked, making the two look over their shoulders. Acting quickly, Naruto shoved Tayuya away from him, putting him in Sakura's way as he did so. The redhead stumbled before growling and then freezing when a squelching noise hit her ears.

Sakura blinked before smiling and sneering at Tayuya before yanking her kunai out of Naruto's shoulder socket. Naruto yelped in pain and fell to the ground on his back, his right hand going to cover the deep wound between his arm and chest. The blonde groaned when he put pressure on it, and he nearly passed out when he used his vision to look at the damage. Succumbing to the dark reality that he had to put pressure on the wound and keep from passing out while also keeping his vision from acting up, Naruto dropped his head back with a thud.

"Your genjutsu's broken now!" Sakura, in her crazed state, exclaimed, "Time to die, slut!"

Tayuya didn't hear the girl's words. All she saw was Naruto on the ground, cringing in pain, and then the bloody kunai in the slutty dressed pink-haired whore's hand. Now seeing red, Tayuya quickly pulled her flute out. Quietly and without any emotion aside from loathing in her voice, the redhead spoke.

"Last mistake, bitch," Tayuya snarled out before bringing her flute to her lips. She played a tune that made Naruto gasp as soon as it hit his ears. For a moment, he considered calling out and making her stop playing, but as soon as he considered doing that, he dashed the thought away. He smirked slightly before hissing in pain as he pressed more pressure onto his wound.

_I'd stop her, but you brought this on yourself, Sakura...Maybe you'll learn after Tayuya introduces you to her favorite Doki..._ Naruto thought as he started to slip into unconsciousness.

"W-What the...What is...What is that?" Sakura whimpered out, her courage all but gone upon seeing Tayuya's summon.

It was nearly nine feet tall and had dark orange skin. The weapon in its hand could be described as a large bone while the skull on its head, covering its face, was canine-esque. It had a torn black cloth around its waist, giving it some decency, but the soulless eyes glaring down at the pinkette was what made her stop. Not the sheer muscle that appeared on its body, but the pure, unrestricted hate in those eyes.

"**You summoned me to kill this bitch?"** it asked. Tayuya lowered the flute from her mouth, her eyes still narrowed in anger at Sakura.

"I don't want her dead," Tayuya growled, "I want her to pay. Break her bones, rape her fucking tit-less ass, shave that ass-whore's hair, but don't kill her Andeddohanta. Make sure she's still alive."

The beast, Andeddohanta, nodded and hoisted the large bone onto his shoulder. He took one step in Sakura's direction, and the pinkette screamed in fear. A small trickling could be heard shortly after her screamed ceased and she fell back, her eyes rolled into her head and her face stuck in a position of fear.

Tayuya sighed and pulled the flute from her mouth as soon as Sakura hit the ground. She sneered in the pinkette's direction before walking over her to Naruto's side, putting a hand on the wound and making him groan.

"Dumbass," the redhead scolded, "I could've blocked it."

"What can I say?" Naruto asked with a sheepish smile before pouting as she helped him up, "I kinda wanted you to summon the real deal, not use the **Andeddohanta no yume**."

"As if I'd make Andeddohanta deal with that whore!" Tayuya spat, glaring down at the unconscious pinkette once again before looking at Naruto. She pushed his hand down and pulled his jacket aside, her eyes examining the cut. It was slowly healing already, but there was that small chance of infection.

"Come on, Shithead!" Tayuya said with a scowl as she dragged him with her, unintentionally grabbing his bad arm. Naruto yelped, earning a soft apology from the redhead, before he followed her as she dragged him to the Hokage's office.

* * *

"Like the new shoes, Gaki!" Jiraiya praised as Naruto walked in to the office with Jiraiya, a large bruise already on his face from whatever he had done to piss of Tsunade. The blonde arched a brow and looked at said Kage, earning a shake of the head.

"It's not worth repeating," Tsunade growled before blinking as she took in the red spot on Naruto's shoulder. With a groan, the Godaime stood from her desk and forcibly sat the blonde in a chair while she placed a green chakra-coated hand over his wound.

"Ow!" Naruto yelped as the wound was cleaned and sealed. He mumbled to himself as he rolled his shoulder when Tsunade was done before looking up at her expectant eyes. With newfound anger, Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and grumbled, "One word: Haruno."

"Oh, Kami..." Tsunade groaned, rubbing her head before snapping her fingers. Two ANBU landed at attention on her left and Tsunade pointed at them, "Haruno Sakura is to be arrested and placed in a holding cell. I want her chakra sealed off as soon as she's located. That girl is too much like me, and like me, she'd probably try and fight her way to freedom."

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" the two ANBU said before vanishing in a blur. Tsunade rubbed her head before looking at the two teens waiting somewhat expectantly in front of her. With a sigh, Tsunade went to her desk and pulled out two files. One was labeled 'Uzumaki Naruto' and the other was 'Tayuya (no surname)'. Tsunade opened both files and pulled two duplicates of a mission paper out. At the top of both, she wrote 'Training Trip'. Under superior she put 'Jiraiya-baka', making said Sanin pout profoundly as he watched her write. At status, she put the words, 'in progress' and wrote the current date at the Mission Started section. With the pain done and over with, she grabbed her Hokage seal and pressed down onto the papers before shoving them in the file.

"There, it's done," Tsunade said before sitting back in her seat and looking at the two grinning teens before her. She blinked as she saw a redheaded girl with a swirl on her headband stand in Tayuya's place while a tall blonde with a white cloak stood in Naruto's. After taking a moment to rub her eyes, Tsunade opened them again to see the two grinning teens, making her smile slightly in realization.

_Looks like Sensei was right,_ Tsunade thought, _History does repeat itself._

"So when do we leave, Baachan?" Naruto asked. Tsunade had to resist throwing a stapler at the blonde before looking at Jiraiya.

"It's up to him," the busty Kage said when she looked back at the two, "But personally, I think you should leave ASAP. The sooner you do, the sooner you come back...and then I don't have to worry about this idiot doing anything stupid while he's away."

"Oh come on, Tsu-hime!" Jiraiya whined, "That's not fair!"

"Tay-chan will keep us in line, Tsunade-baachan," Naruto assured his Hokage with a grin, only to be smacked upside the head by the blushing redhead on his right.

"You dumbass! Don't call me that!" Tayuya growled out. Naruto cradled his head in pain and pouted Tayuya's way.

"That wasn't nice, Tay-chan...beating on your blind teammate..." the blonde whimpered.

"Oh shut up, Shithead," the redhead growled before the two of them left the Hokage's office. As soon as they were gone, Tsunade sealed the room and looked at Jiraiya with intense seriousness in her eyes.

"You swear to take care of them? On your career?" she asked her teammate.

The white haired Sanin grinned before nodding, "I absolutely swear that they'll be perfectly safe...I'll be sure to teach the boy the semen killing jutsu and that he uses condoms just in ca-_ace_!"

Tsunade imbedded her fist in the white haired man's stomach, not putting any chakra behind it to be sure he wouldn't leave the room so she could ask the real question. As Jiraiya knelt on the ground, holding his stomach, Tsunade spun her chair to look at him.

"You know damn well what I meant, you old pervert!" the busty Kage spat before her tone died and she looked out the window. Tayuya and Naruto were walking towards their apartment to pack for the night, Naruto smiling and rubbing the back of his head while Tayuya cussed him out. The pigtailed blonde frowned at the recollection of why Naruto had to leave before looking at Jiraiya as he stood.

The old Gama Sennin had a serious look on his face and he crossed his arms before looking out the window, his eyes locking on the blonde genin with a headband around his head and over his sightless eyes. Jiraiya smiled slightly before it dropped and he spoke, "The Akatsuki is dangerous...full of S-class shinobi that are legendary far beyond you or I. Naruto won't be taken by them and I'll personally make sure of it. You have my word as a Sanin, Tsunade. I won't let anything happen to the Gaki."

His face took on a perverted smile and he continued with, "Unless he gets laid...Then I'll be sure to capture it for all of my fans!"

Moments later, a shooting star was seen in the dimming light of a Konohagakure day. Had anyone been paying attention, they would have seen a white haired man defy the laws of gravity and pause in midair over the hot springs, write something in his notebook, before resuming his journey across the skies.

* * *

**AN: Shorter than average, I know, but it was the ending of an Arc...the beginning arc to be exact! The journey with Jiraiya begins in the next chapter! Let's hope I don't take too long with it, eh? READ AND REVIEW!  
PSAN: Ame's Jinchuriki returns soon.**


	6. A New Day

**Hey peeps! Bones is back working on Hold My Hand, after about a million years...Sorry. Don't kill me, I promise to make the chapter as bad ass as possible!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own our favorite Orange Hokage-to-be Uzumaki Naruto, but I do own a nice shiny pair of brass knuckles...I think I may pay a visit to Japan...**

**Chapter 6: **_**It's A New Day**_** by Adelitas Way**

* * *

The sun was rising over Konohagakure no Sato's main gates as a small gathered few stood at the immense open doors. One of them was the Godaime herself, currently pressing her foot down onto her teammate's groin as he apologized with the vocal pitch of a young girl.

"GAH! I'M SORRY! PLEASE GET OFF!" Jiraiya pleaded to Tsunade. The Godaime smirked and tapped her chin in thought, purposely adding a bit more pressure to the white-haired man's already wrecked groin. To the side, a certain blind blonde and his new traveling companion watched with matching grins on their faces at the scene.

"That motherfucker's getting his just deserts, isn't he, Shithead?" Tayuya asked as she looked at the blonde. Naruto deflated at her pet name for him, but he regained his smile at hearing another yelp from his godfather.

"Yeah, but Ero-sennin just doesn't know when to shut up..." the blind boy said with an embarrassed shake of his head, "I mean peeping on hot springs is one thing, but flat out trying to get me to do it before we meet up with Baa-chan, who was also standing right behind him? You'd think for a Sanin he'd be a _little_ smarter than that."

"Well, Tsunade-sama never said he was a perfect teacher," Shizune, who, along with Ton-Ton and Kakashi, had come to see the blonde and redhead off, said with an equally embarrassed tone. Next to her, Kakashi chuckled, his ANBU mask on his hip as he scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, I can only imagine how Sensei came out of that trip and still managed to be Konoha's number one Bachelor..." Kakashi thought before glancing at the blonde and silently adding to himself, _That is, until he met your mother, Naruto._

A minute later, Tsunade stepped back and off of Jiraiya, who hopped up without a trace of pain on his face. Mentally, he was screaming his lungs off, but on the outside, he put on a large smile and looked at the blonde. Naruto was wearing his usual attire, along with his new geta, and had his headband wrapped around his eyes. Strapped to his back was his sword, which he named _Uzumaki no Kiba_, and his left hand was on his side while the right scratched the back of his head. If he foregone the headband around the eyes and returned them to the way they were prior to the SRS mission, Jiraiya swore he would have looked like a carbon copy of his father.

The redheaded girl glaring at him for reasons unknown...Personally, Jiraiya thought it was because she, like the mother of the boy on her left, was pissed that he tried to corrupt his student. Honestly, Tayuya was so much like Kushina it was scary! The white haired man remembered when Kushina had almost succeeded in killing him for trying to drag a very nervous Minato to the hot springs for research. The man was pretty damn determined to keep his virgin eyes the way they were until he and Kushina finally married.

Jiraiya suspected Minato wasn't as innocent as he claimed, due to the occasional glow Kushina would have whenever she walked around the village after he returned from a mission.

"Well, Perverted No-nuts," Tayuya joked with her usually crass tone, making the man's eye twitch at the new nickname whilst his chosen apprentice was smirking even wider along with his former teammate, "We gonna leave or what?"

"Tay-chan has a point, Ero-sennin," Naruto commented as he crossed his arms over his chest, "We were supposed to leave twenty minutes ago..."

"Yes, but how did you expect me to leave without getting proper farewells from the village's most important assets?" the white haired Sanin countered before recognizing a very familiar cracking of knuckles. Noting how deep of shit he was in, Jiraiya quickly continued with, "But I guess you're right. The sooner we're on the road, the sooner you can get to training."

_Gee, I wonder what sped _that_ thought process up_, the group, save for the Sanin, unanimously thought as they glanced at a slightly fuming Godaime Hokage. Naruto, taking the initiative to begin their journey, turned to his white haired, Inu-masked sensei, and smiled foxily at him.

"Well, _Inu_-sensei," the blonde said in an effort to rile the ANBU out of character, "It's been fun throwing kunai at your books and trying to take your mask."

"Maa, you make it sound like you're off to die, Naruto," Kakashi, dressed in the ANBU captain attire with Inu mask included, shot back lazily, "Just don't. Unless it's for the greater good, of course...Oh, and be sure to wear a condom when you and Tayuya-san finally do the nasty. Bye!"

"You sunovabitch!" Tayuya roared as the white haired ANBU vanished in a puff of smoke before glaring at her blind crush, "He's first to die when we fucking get back..."

"No argument here," Naruto growled as he clenched his fist, "Damn asshole used _my_ jutsu to take a jibe at me!"

Shaking her head at the two's plotting, Tsunade earned their attention when she spoke, "Dumb gaki, don't go threatening ANBU. It could be considered treason."

"Whatever Hag/Baachan," the two replied simultaneously before facing each other, "Don't do that, Tay-chan/Shithead!"

Tsunade laughed at their synced arguement before turning serious and pulling the blonde into a hug. Naruto's form went ridged for a moment before he hugged back, being sure to keep his head below suffocation levels. The Godaime smiled motherly before she spoke again, "Stay safe, get strong, and for the love of God don't become a pervert."

"No worries, Tsunade-baachan," the teen replied before their hug broke and he hugged his pseudo-sister in the same manner that he did the Hokage, "Goodbye Shizune-neechan. Tell Genma-sensei that I'm sorry."

"I will Naruto-kun. Take care of yourself and Tayuya-chan," the brunette medic replied as she returned his affections before their hug broke. To Tayuya's surprise, she was suddenly pulled into a hug as well, seeming to be brought into the lovey-dovey farewells only for a small senbon to be poked subtly in her neck.

"Take care of Naruto-kun, Tayuya-chan," Shizune whispered, knowing no matter what Naruto wouldn't hear it due to her skill, "Because if he's not back in _one whole_ piece, I'll have to hurt you."

"Fuck you," was the hissed reply as Tayuya flicked a kunai into her hand, the hug she was in hiding her blush from the rest of the gathered few, "Fuck you, fuck Kakashi, and fuck anyone else that so much as insinuates _we'd_ be a couple."

"Just don't hurt him," Shizune warned before they broke the hug, Tayuya glaring at the medic while said woman had a smile on her face. A small step away from them, Naruto frowned in confusion as he heard Tayuya's heartbeat increase once again while a dark feeling seemed to radiate from his neechan. Shrugging in confusion, the blonde remained unaware of the female duo's farewell's true message.

Jiraiya, watching this, simply smirked as he realized something: _Like Father, Like Son...Sensei, you were right that the brat was going to be oblivious to anyone's feelings towards him._

"Well!" he said in an effort to get his two companions/students attentions, "I believe it's time we leave, eh? Tsu-hime, Shizune. We'll see ya!"

That having been said; the Gama Sennin made his leave by turning and walking down the road. Naruto and Tayuya wasted no time in catching up to him, the former turning around once to give a two-finger salute goodbye while the latter cursed vulgarities at their supposed teacher. Tsunade and Shizune watched fondly as the three became silhouettes in the morning sunlight, both far too focused on the three fading figures to sense the hidden person watching the blonde's dismissal.

* * *

A pair of pearl-white eyes narrowed as fingernails dug into the wood on the telephone pole the owner of said eyes hid behind. The figure, obviously a female from her slight hourglass form, wore a light blue jacket that slightly clung to her torso over a long sleeved black shirt. Her legs were wearing navy blue pants, which ended just above the ankles, and her feet were covered by the traditional genin sandal. The girl had navy-black hair and was a well-known member of the Rookie Nine, for it was the Number One Naruto-loving (stalking in some opinion) kunoichi Hyuuga Hinata. The young heiress wasn't glaring at her crush, however. No, she had her gaze locked firmly on that of the fiery redheaded teenage girl that was chosen to accompany him.

_I'll be stronger when you return, Naruto-kun,_ Hinata thought as her gaze briefly snapped to her crush before returning to the back of the silhouette of her chosen nemesis, _and then you'll choose me to be the one you love...not some redheaded, sailor mouthed, traitorous bitch!_

Let it be known that when a Hyuuga sees something they dislike, they dislike the holy shit out of it...either aloud or internally.

* * *

Meanwhile, Tayuya sneezed violently as they walked before glancing back at the village, "Damn motherfuckers must be happy the 'Oto-Bitch' left..."

"Oh, come on, Tay-chan," Naruto scoffed, his hands causally dug in his pockets, "Don't tell me you believe that old wives' tale!"

"Don't doubt superstition, Naruto," Jiraiya chastised his apprentice before the redhead could cuss him out, "Why, in fact, you should embrace it. Considering you are a jinchuriki–"

"Don't call me/him that word!" the two following the white haired Sanin growled. Jiraiya sighed and looked at the displeased blonde, as well as trying to ignore the burning glare coming from the right that would probably kill him if he looked at the source, before continuing, "Well, sorry, Gaki. It's the only one we've got for now."

"Tch, whatever, Ero-sennin. Just don't use it," Naruto grunted, his mood now sour due to the reminder of his status. Taking a moment to cheer himself up, doing so by cheering another up, Naruto then asked, "So where to first, Ero-sen_sei_?"

Jiraiya blinked before looking at the blonde with wide eyes, allowing a grin to cross his face as he looked at his godson. The boy was starting to accept him as a teacher, a good step. Next would be the hard part of telling him about his parents and his role as a godfather...something that Jiraiya was sure to invoke a violent response from Naruto. Or worse: Tayuya.

Deciding to muse on that at a later date, the Gama Sennin answered his student's request with a smile, "Well, first things first: We should probably get more muscle on those scrawny limbs...how's lunch sound?"

"Food?" the two travelling with him incredulously asked with gaping faces, only to be given a grin in response. One that made Naruto's spine shiver.

* * *

Minutes later, Naruto was bawling on the side of the road while Tayuya was laughing her ass off. Jiraiya had emptied the blonde's pack of all instant ramen. Even the hidden stash the boy had shoved into Tayuya's backpack via sealing scroll was burnt to a crisp before the blind boy. Jiraiya smugly spoke, quieting the sobs of his apprentice while Tayuya's laughter dropped to snickers, "You need to eat better, boy. Ramen, while cheap and effectively filling on a shinobi diet, is not at all what shinobi need to become strong. How do you expect to get taller if you just eat ramen?"

"I will kill you in your sleep..." Naruto growled as he snapped his covered eyes to lock on his smirking sensei's face, the dried tears giving him a slightly pathetic look, "Do you know how much that single bunch of ramen cost?"

"Can't have been more than a D-rank mission, Gaki," Jiraiya scoffed, when he was suddenly punched in the gut by an irate blonde. Tayuya's snickering stopped as she noticed the sudden anger radiating from the blind blonde.

"To you, Jiraiya," Naruto slowly spoke as he kept his fist imbedded in the shocked man's stomach, "Ramen may have been just 'cheap meals', but to me, it was a motherfucking _lobster dinner_. Why do you think all my packed food has been ramen? It's all the _civilians_ would sell me!"

Jiraiya, being known for many things, was known for his rash actions, or rather, rash reactions. Hearing Naruto's words made the Sanin glance down at the irate blonde and suddenly scowl. The white haired man brought his own fist back before socking the boy in the face. As Naruto fell back, Jiraiya spoke, "While I do understand your reaction, _apprentice_, you will _not_ do that again. Am I understood, Uzumaki?"

Naruto rubbed his jaw, respect for the man before him having risen quite a bit, before replying, "Yeah...Yeah, I got ya, Ero-sensei."

"Good," Jiraiya said before biting his thumb and summoning a small toad. The man then pulled a small scroll out, quickly jot down a few sentences, and rolled the scroll up before tossing it to the toad. With an irritated grunt, Jiraiya instructed, "Give it to Tsu-hime. Now."

"Yes, Jiraiya-sama," the toad replied before vanishing in a puff of smoke. The white haired Sannin glanced at the blonde that was being assisted to his feet by a concerned Tayuya, looking the both of them over before a grin crossed his face.

"How good are either of you two at hunting?" Jiraiya suddenly asked them, getting them to look his way with confusion on their faces. The white haired man's grin grew as they looked at each other.

* * *

"That's...That's just horrible!" Shizune exclaimed as she reread the message Tsunade received not an hour after Naruto and Tayuya left with Jiraiya, "How could Sandaime-sama allow this?"

"I don't know," Tsunade growled as she snapped her fingers, "But I'm going to find out. Inu! Summon the council. I want answers..."

"Yes, Godaime-sama."

* * *

-One Month Later-

Outside the bridge to Nami no Kuni in the forest, a blonde preteen was currently sitting in a meditative pose while his sensei was out 'researching'. His only companion had ventured into the nearby village nearly half an hour ago in an effort to find their chosen sensei and, as she put it, "Kick his ass from here to Oto for ditching (her) with a goddamn motherfucking man-whore!"

Now, normally, Tayuya wouldn't be calling him anything other than Shithead, but lately, she's been very irritated and has had the urge to snap Naruto's neck twenty-four seven. Why would she be irritated one may ask, and another may respond that it's that time when Mother Nature visits her daughters...well that someone is WRONG.

Tayuya's irritability is not due to her period, rather, it is due to the fact that Naruto was sent to a brothel...and he didn't return for a week.

His absence was not due to perversion, but like the blonde has claimed, it was due to training. Jiraiya had noticed that whenever they attracted attention, it was Naruto to blame. His clothes, although much subtler than the blinding orange monstrosity, were quite the beacon. So, Jiraiya dumped the boy in the caring arms of Sango, who had been running a brothel for several years just outside of Nami's borders. With him gone, Jiraiya then had Tayuya sign the Toad contract (for emergencies only) and began training her in his Gama-Doton techniques.

The sisters in Mother Sango's home taught the orange loving blonde how to blend with the crowds, to be seen and yet not seen, like a true shinobi. Naruto also picked up on the skill of pickpocketing whilst he was at the brothel. He had also learned of the correct way to assassinate when the time would call for it, and a new hidden dagger was sheathed under his right sleeve in case of the ability's need. His attire was changed once again, but mostly it was the jacket that Sango redid, adding a hood and giving him leather shoulder guards to add protection as well as leather greaves to defend his shins. The hood allowed him to keep the headband he adored from covering his eyes and said eyes to see without being seen; now the headband was tied around his left bicep, tightening the sleeve around that portion of his arm.

The poor boy did not learn to pick up on subtle hints, however, as a few of the call-girls can atone to. The first two weeks after the 'Ramen Cleanse (of Doom, Naruto would add under his breath)' had done the blonde well, allowing his growth spurt to finally kick in and let him lose some of his childish chub, making him look like a literal mini-Minato, only with a rounded face like that of his mother. The girls of the Brothel saw this and were instantly attracted to the hardworking, friendly-natured blind preteen. A few were already attracted due to his act in Nami, as they were women taken by Gato's men and 'spoiled' for others.

His naivety stuck like glue, unfortunately for them, but fortunate for his traveling companion. Said companion was disbelieving in his actions at the Brothel, attempting to 'rescue' him after three nights had passed before Jiraiya stopped her easily. When he returned, she gave him the cold shoulder for a few days before finally yelling at him for "Succumbing to the Perverted Motherfucker's ways". Despite his constant promises that he hadn't done 'The Deed' with any of the girls, Tayuya continued to show nothing but anger (which was rare in his case) whenever he tried to be civil with her.

"Oi, Shithead!" Naruto's meditation was interrupted by the voice of Tayuya, the blind boy's eyes slowly opening before locking on the approaching redhead. He allowed a small smile to cross his face as she continued, "The Pervert says he's got a mission for us. Turns out some bridge builder and his family are being harassed by some dumbass villagers that the damn midget was bribing. _We're_ the fucker's new bodyguards."

"...You called me Shithead," Naruto said with a smile as his eyes shut, "As odd as it is, I missed hearing you call me that!"

Tayuya's face reddened and she scowled, smacking the blonde upside the head, "Shut up, Shithead..."

"Ne, first off; ow," Naruto muttered as he stood, pulling his hood up so that it hid his hair/eyes from others as they walked, "Second, where's the client?"

"The old fucker is waiting at the bridge," replied Tayuya as her blush slightly darkened. As much as she disliked Naruto's training at the Brothel, she had to admit, the new jacket gave him even more of a dangerous and mysterious aura, which to her was a huge turn on.

_Get a hold of yourself, ya horny bitch!_ Tayuya mentally growled as they walked to the bridge, the blonde leading, _So Shithead got some new clothes, big deal! He's still a dumbass...with a cute ass...Argh, Goddammit! Sometimes I fucking hate being fifteen!_

Naruto walked with a small smile before frowning when a familiar scent hit his nose. Sniffing slightly, the blonde stopped when they were a few feet from the clearing that revealed the Nami no Kuni end of the bridge. Naruto put his hand up in an open palm, signaling for them to stop. Tayuya did so, consequently snapping herself from her mental dilemma, before going on guard. The blonde's hand went to grab his katana, still on his back, when a knife flew over his head.

"Hey, look here Cho! Pa wuz right 'bout that Fatass drunk getting ninja," a voice said, getting the two traveling shinobi' attention. They saw a large man with a bowl cut of dulled orange hair, his clothing being a fancy battle-ready kimono, standing before a shorter shaved-head teen with a sneer on his face and his left hand extended in a post-throwing position. The shorter teen wore baggy black pants and a white sash around his waist, a grey Yakama jacket on his torso allowing his cut physique to be revealed.

"Duh, yeah Niisan," the larger teen mumbled as he scratched his head with a finger, "buh, dey doesn't look bigger dan you? You sure deys da ninja?"

"Course I am, Cho!" the shorter one snorted before leering at Tayuya, "So we can expect a fight...I'll take the girl, that way she's not roughed up too bad and we can have some fun with a pretty face."

"Duh, okay Yukio-niisan," Cho said. Naruto scoffed and unsheathed his katana before pointing it at the two (obvious) brothers.

"Meat," he asked Tayuya, pointing at Cho, before pointing at Yukio, "Or Potatoes?"

"Tch, like you've got to fucking ask me?" Tayuya snorted before dashing at Yukio with impressive speed, whipping through hand seals along the way before exclaiming, "**Doton: Gama-Ken! (Earth Release: Frog Fist!)**"

A four-fingered fist emerged from the ground, slamming right into the jaw of the target (Yukio) and sending him soaring from the brush into the clearing, startling a white haired semi-drunken bridge builder. Cho turned and cried out in concern before looking back to come face-to-face with Naruto's flying knee.

"Shinobi Lesson #1: Taijutsu!" Naruto said just before his knee connected, "Rule one: Never take your eye off an opponent!"

His knee sent the tall bowl cut brother out of the wood, similar to how Tayuya did Yukio, and rolling into the clearing. The drunk watching quickly took another downing of his sake before leaning back against the cement pillar for a comfy seat. The fight was going to be very entertaining for the drunk.

"Ahh! Niisan!" Cho cried out when Naruto delivered an effective curb stomp on his stomach, "Niisan!"

"Kick his ass, Cho-Gah, you bitch!" Yukio growled as Tayuya kicked him in the side. The redheaded girl smirked and then gave the shaved teen a follow through kick to the jaw. Yukio stumbled backwards as Tayuya continued her assault.

"Niisan!" Cho cried out again, this time in anger. The large brother grit his teeth and caught Naruto's foot in his hand just before it connected with his face. Naruto gulped as the bowl-cut man got to his feet, towering over the blonde who's foot he still had in his grasp. The man spoke to his blind attacker with a hint of anger in his voice's tone, "Duh, I gonna kill you an' save meh Niisan."

Naruto's eyes narrowed and he spun to the left, his foot in the grip of the giant he was fighting following his momentum, causing his free leg to fly up and kick Cho in the jaw, the momentum and force he added doing enough to fracture the man's jaw. Cho released his assaulter and stumbled backwards as he cupped his jaw, muffled whimpers escaping his lips. Naruto quickly returned to his feet and ducked under the orange haired man's blind right backhand, leaving his target wide open for a left punch right to the gut. Cho coughed blood through his hand onto Naruto's hood, and Naruto allowed the giant to stumble backwards so he could glance at his companion's fight.

Tayuya ducked under an attempted kick that Yukio aimed at her head, giving her ample time to deliver a punch to his groin. The shaved man released a rather girlish yelp as he was hit in the sensitive area. Naruto winced in pity before returning his attention to the larger being before him, consequently taking a blow to the jaw and stumbling backwards as a result of taking his attention from his opponent.

"Shithead!" Tayuya cried out in concern before glaring at the larger man, who returned the look with his own flaring nostrils, and snarled, "You fucking Fatass..."

"Tiny Bitch!" Cho cried back as he charged at her, cocking his left fist back in an attempt to strike her, "Die!"

Tayuya ducked under the hit and swept the fat man's legs out from underneath him, making the earth shake upon his body's impact. She quickly leapt up and drove her foot into the face of the younger, bowl-cut-hairstyle brother. The redhead with a sailor's mouth then delivered blow after blow to the downed man's face, swearing loudly with each strike, and thus allowing Yukio to slowly make his way to his feet. The shaved man reached into his back and gripped the handle of a dagger, unsheathing it quietly before attempting to get the drop on the redhead.

A sudden blur rushed him and Yukio felt immense pain in his stomach. Looking down, the man saw an imbedded fist clenching his shirt, but just next to said fist was a hidden blade, a gleam revealing its sharp edge. Yukio coughed; a good portion of blood passing his lips and onto the clothed shoulder he had digging into his chest as the blade dug deeper into his stomach, before looking up at the hooded blonde and staring into a pair of swirling eyes.

"_Yasuraka ni nemure _(Rest in peace)," Naruto hissed into his foe's ear before shoving the corpse away. He looked over to Tayuya to see her suffocating the larger man. With a silent grace few shinobi still have, the hooded blonde made his way to the redhead's side and grabbed her shoulder, "He's unconscious, Tay-chan. Unless you want to finish him, we should just leave him to be found."

"Yeah, well...what about the Bald pussy?" Tayuya asked. Naruto didn't speak, simply twisting his wrist and sheathing his hidden blade.

"He is of no concern," the hooded teen replied once he was half a meter away. Tayuya glanced at the bleeding corpse of the older brother and, listening to her good judgment, used a quick Katon technique to torch the corpse. The redhead swiftly followed her partner to stand before the drinking man leaning on the bridge's entrance.

"So...We meet again brat," the drinker said, pushing his hat up to reveal an elderly man with small glasses on his face, "When Jiraiya-sama said he'd give me a brat for a bodyguard, I guess he wasn't lying."

Naruto blinked before grinning once he recognized the man and pulled his hood down, revealing his face and eyes to the drunk, before returning the greeting, "Been a while, hasn't it, Tazuna?"

"Heh, see ya got rid of the Howler Monkey," Tazuna chuckled out as he gestured to Tayuya, "So, finally get a girlfriend?"

Naruto's face immediately fell into a scowl, matching said redhead to his left only he lacked the blush on his cheeks, before they replied as one, "WE ARE _NOT_ DATING!"

"Hm, from what Jiraiya-sama told me, I'd have thought otherwise," Tazuna mumbled as he scratched his beard before shrugging, "Ah, whatever. Come on; let's get back to the village before anymore punks decide to grow a set."

Tayuya grinned and looked at Naruto as they followed the bridge builder, "I like this old drunk asshole, Shithead. He's the one ya killed Momochi for, right?"

Naruto sighed and flipped his hood up, "I didn't kill Zabuza, Tay-chan...Gato's men did."

"Whatever," Tayuya scoffed with an eye roll, not knowing that the old man before them was listening to their conversation, "I just thought that's why they named the bridge after you."

Naruto stopped walking instantly, his head whipping back to see the engraving mirrored on both sides of the bridge's entries/exits' stone: The Great Naruto Bridge.

"...HOW COME NO ONE TOLD ME ABOUT THIS?"

And then Tazuna broke out laughing.

* * *

**AN: ah, a good chapter to start the new year on, eh? Thanks for reading everyone. Now if only I can get some ideas for the next Kitsune Rebel chapter...Ah, well, I'll get around to it. Ja ne, readers! Happy New Year!**

**(It may be our last O.O)**


	7. Burn

**Hey peeps! Bones is back working on Hold My Hand, after about a million years...Sorry. Don't kill me, I promise to make the chapter as bad ass as possible!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own our favorite Orange Hokage-to-be Uzumaki Naruto, but I do own a nice shiny pair of brass knuckles...I think I may pay a visit to Japan...**

**Chapter 7: **_**Burn**_** by Papa Roach**

* * *

"You seriously didn't fucking know they named the bridge after you?" Tayuya asked with a smirk as they walked through the town. The blind blonde was pouting as they walked, unseen by the villagers as his hood was up over his head to keep people from A; stare at his eyes or B; crowd him and shower him with thanks as Tazuna had warned him about. He was still trying to get over having a bridge named after him, and the fact the village was grateful enough to mob him...it was a hard thought to grasp in the neglected container's mind.

"Ah, don't go blaming the poor brat," Tazuna said as he started to defend the blonde, "Not his fault we named it after him...Oh wait, he _is_ the 'Hero of Wave', so I guess it is his fault!"

"Screw you, ya drunk bastard!" Naruto growled at the now belly-laughing man, before he stopped. His head swiveled around and his 'sight' scanned the area. The black and white of his vision caught every feature, every face, and every set of eyes, but something was still wrong.

Someone was watching them.

Suddenly, Naruto's sword was out to deflect a senbon needle, the sound of the pin being deflected making Tayuya pull a kunai out as she pushed Tazuna down.

"It was a warning, Tay-chan," Naruto growled as he sheathed his blade and knelt down to pick the senbon up, "A warning that we need to decipher..."

"Or," Tayuya said with a smirk as she snatched the senbon from her blind crush's hand, "We could read the 'Get lost' that's carved into it...Dumbass."

Naruto pouted at the redhead before he snatched it back and muttered out, "Shut up, Tay-chan..."

He was cuffed upside the head by a red-faced flutist, making their charge howl with laughter and slap his leg. The hooded blonde's hidden eyes locked a glare on the bridge builder before he looked at the amused redhead. He crossed his arms and addressed the alcoholic native to Nami no Kuni with a bit of irritability in his voice, "Oi! Just take us back to your home, ya old, no good drunk!"

"Watch your mouth, brat!" Tazuna shot back with a smirk as he began walking, "Ladies don't like it when boys disrespect their elders, that and I doubt the village would like it if you made fun of their governor."

"...Oh dear Kami, they put you in _charge_?" Naruto mocked with faux horror on his face before looking at the smirking redhead, "We're walking into a Drunk's Village...its like Baachan all over again!"

Tayuya burst out laughing and Tazuna sent a small glare at the boy that was exaggerating concern for the village's state.

* * *

On a rooftop just a bit away, a shadow revealed itself and followed them as they walked with a telescope. A dark cloak covered the person and on their face was a dirtied white mask that had faded red paint in a familiar pattern, including four carved lines in the dead center of the mask's forehead. The masked figure lowered their telescope and pressed the side of their mask. Quietly, the masked being spoke with a soft yet scratchy voice, "As we feared, it's Konohagakure that the drunk hired...They got the message...I'm sure of it...As you wish, Ringo-sama."

The figure removed the finger activating the microphone and continued with a disguised voice, "_However...completing our mission will be much harder if __**he**__ is in the village. We meet again...__**Naruto**_."

* * *

Naruto snapped his head around as his inhuman hearing picked up what sounded like the last syllable of his name. He looked back at his teammate when she tapped his shoulder, his purple eyes locking with her brown ones.

"What'd ya hear, shithead?" Tayuya asked. Naruto looked back in the direction of the syllable's origin before looking back at his friend with a foxy grin.

"Ah, it was nothing' Tay-chan," the blonde replied before resuming his walk up the steps to where Tazuna was waiting in front of the modest wooden door that made up his home's entrance. The bridge builder stood in a proud stance before his larger home, which made Naruto leaned back and whistled.

"Compensating for something, ya ole drunk?" Naruto asked with a scratch of his cheek and an arched brow. Tazuna fell flat on his face at the question. Tayuya smirked and crossed her arms over her chest before throwing in her own jibe, "Yeah, I mean, sure it's big, but does it have to be _this_ big?"

"Ungrateful little...Tsunami-chan! Inari! I'm back with the ninja...Again!" he chuckled out as he entered the house. Naruto stopped Tayuya from following their employer with a light hand on her arm.

"Summon your Doki to do a few rounds and I'll have a few **Bunshin** waiting around," he suggested. The flutist blinked at his plan before nodding and pulling her hand-made flute out, playing the required notes to bring forth her most useful summons when it came to being a bodyguard. Naruto made a small squadron of clones and dispersed them amongst the grounds just before her instructional notes finished. The blonde looked at his redheaded teammate and held his hands before him with a slight bow, "Ladies first, Tay-chan."

Tayuya frowned, "Stop using what those whores taught you, shithead, it makes me sick..."

Despite her words, she led the blind blonde into the home of the bridge builder. She was impressed at the detail while Naruto groaned before whistling in a high pitch. Covering her ears, Tayuya released a growl when the ringing stopped and rounded on her blind crush.

"The fuck was that for! You could have made me deaf, you dumbass!" she berated the hooded shinobi after lightly thumping him on the head with the palm of her hand. Naruto rubbed the spot she struck and gave her the equivalent of a light glare.

"I couldn't _see_, Tayuya. The acoustics in here are different than outside. I had to regain my eyesight," he explained before he was barreled over by a green blur. Tayuya was on defense in an instant, a kunai in her hand to strike at her friend's attacker, but stopped when Naruto chuckled.

"Hey Inari! Long time no see, eh, _crybaby_?" he teased as the attacker looked at him with a beaming smile; the redhead assumed the attacker was smiling by his body stance due to her still being unable to see the attacker's face. Tayuya examined the boy quickly and quietly: He was nearly two heads shorter than the blonde he had taken down, and had the build of a normal civilian boy in a modest economic situation; on his head was a tan bucket hat with a green strap around it, covering messy raven locks that stuck out here and there; covering his legs and chest was a green set of overalls, and to be honest, he looked like he was covered in sawdust.

"Naruto-niisan! You're here to save the village again!" the boy, Inari, exclaimed. Naruto laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his hooded head.

"Yeah...guess I am. Now get off, I'm losing the feeling in my stomach because you're so fat!" he joked with a shove to the younger boy. Inari quickly stood and helped the blonde to his feet. Naruto rolled his shoulders and placed a hand on his back before looking down at the civilian, "Geez, what's Tsunami-san feeding you? Lard?"

"How rude, Naruto-kun! And to think, I prepared my famous Nikujaga just for your arrival!" a motherly voice called from the hallway. Tayuya and Naruto looked to see a young woman mock glaring at the hooded shinobi that stood next to her son. She had a blue apron on over a pink shirt and a dark skirt. Her navy hair was up in a bun, leaving two bangs to frame her face. Naruto had the decency to blush and scratch his cheek.

"Ne, gomen Tsunami-san," he apologized with a small chuckle. Tayuya gave the woman a once over before nudging Naruto in the side. The blonde turned his head to glance at her before looking back at the family he had befriended months ago with a beaming smile. He pulled his hood down and shut his eyes as he grinned, "So what's for dinner?"

That earned him a fist to the head. Naruto whined from his crouched position as his annoyed teammate remained in her post-striking one, growling out, "Don't act like you didn't fucking understand me, Shithead!"

Naruto rubbed his head and sent a glare to the redhead before looking back at the family of three, "Fine. Tsunami, Inari-oututo, this is Tayuya-chan. Tayuya-chan, Tsunami and Inari-oututo. There, I introduced you, can I eat now?"

The lingering odor had been assaulting his nostrils since Tsunami had left the food to sit, and the shinobi with four senses was starting to succumb to the scent. Tayuya rolled her eyes and prepared to berate the blonde when Tsunami spoke up, "Well, I'll admit I'm surprised you brought your girlfriend along but she does look more capable than Sakura-san did."

Naruto and Tayuya's faces turned bright red at the insinuation and they both quickly shouted, "WE ARE _NOT_ DATING!"

Tazuna covered his mouth with his fist and coughed, suspiciously sounding like barely repressed laughter. Inari looked from his idol, to the redhead, and back multiple times with a confused look on his face before he shuddered. Girls are icky and have cooties...why would Naruto want to be with one?

Tsunami merely smiled and said with an underlying tone of disbelief, "Oh, I see, how silly of me."

Naruto huffed and looked away, accepting the response for what it was. Tayuya, having a bit more insight to the woman tongue, flushed darker and growled, "For the love of Kami-sama...This Shithead and I. Are. Not. Dating!"

"Of course, of course," Tsunami waved off with a free hand as she went back to the kitchen, "Please don't swear in my house, Tayuya-san!"

Tayuya fumed for a moment before looking at the blonde, "I don't like her..."

Naruto rolled his eyes and shook his head. The woman said she believed them and, to his naïve boyish mind, he believed her. Tayuya's lack of trust was _really_ going to kick them in the butt one day...

The blonde looked at their host and grinned, "So, who's our big target, Tazuna?"

The drinking construction worker's humor fell and an uneasy silence filled the room before he gestured for the two teens to follow him. Naruto and Tayuya exchanged a glance before following Tazuna into the same room Kakashi had been laid in after his encounter with Zabuza. Recognizing the room, Naruto made a mental note to stop by the Kiri nuke-nin's grave before the mission was over.

The bridge builder sat and silently instructed them to do the same before he looked at the blonde with hardened eyes, "Do you remember the Demon Brothers?"

Tsunami had entered the room with Inari, handing the two shinobi small cups and pouring them tee, but after mentioning the two shinobi that had nearly ended his career early, Naruto spat his small sip out in surprise. The blind shinobi blinked before scowling. With a tone Tayuya hadn't heard unless he was really pissed, Naruto said one word; "Elaborate."

"The two bastards have rallied the stray swords-for-hire Gato left behind and have been stirring trouble for our village and my family," the old bridge builder said, "In fact, the two boys you had dealt with were the sons of a nearby farmer who has been lurking around for more land even before Gato was dead. Though he was much more subtle when that little turd was around. I'd bet my last sake bottle that those two bastards told him about the acre of land that I invested in."

"So...You want us to take care of Gozu and Meizu?" Naruto asked, his sightless eyes narrowing, "Anything else?"

Tazuna's frown increased, "Actually, there's been word that someone else is giving them instructions."

"Someone else?" Tayuya asked with her own frown.

"Yeah," the governor replied with obvious unease in his voice, "the most recent storm was strange and for the life of me I can't understand it. Not to mention the lightning seems to stay away from the village and is drawn somewhere else."

"You want us to investigate it," Naruto concluded with a furrowed brow as he put his chin on top of his interlocked hands, "With good reason, too. Zabuza could manipulate the mist around him by spreading out his chakra, and according to Ero-sennin, Kisame's sword has an ability to shred rather than cut and absorb chakra like a leech. With the Demon Brothers so used to working under a Swordsman, you're afraid they managed to find another. One who can control storms."

"Damn, brat," Tazuna whistled, "You've sure gotten smarter."

"Don't inflate his head with a fucking pack of lies, you Old Fart," Tayuya snorted as Naruto hung his head with a sigh, "Shithead may have the occasional bout of genius, but he tends to be an idiot."

"So cruel..." Naruto whimpered. Before Tayuya could retort, Tsunami called for them to come eat.

* * *

Shortly after a warm meal and a few tales from Inari about what he's been doing with his life, the two shinobi left the house to do two things. One of the tasks was to gather information on the current band of swordsmen. The other was to visit the graves of Zabuza and Haku.

They were currently walking up the side of the hill to said graves, Naruto explaining to Tayuya his shock when he met Haku.

"So let me get this straight," Tayuya started with a smirk to the embarrassed blonde, "You met this faggot when he was picking herbs to heal Zabuza, and thought he was a fucking girl? Is he that fucking girly?"

"Well, yeah...Not to mention he sounded and moved like one..." Naruto replied.

Tayuya glanced at him with a frown, "What the fuck does that mean? 'Moved like one'?"

"Uh...Oh, look we're here!" Naruto said, changing the subject with masking excitement to cover for his nervousness. The two walked further into the brush, but froze in shock when the came across the gravesite. Naruto tried to start a sentence, but Tayuya beat him to it.

"Shithead, why the fuck is that grave dug up!?" the redhead asked with a hint of fear in her voice as her imagination began to run wild.

"I don't know!" Naruto replied, frowning as he ran to the open grave and kneeling next to it, "It doesn't make sense!"

"Here's another good fucking question," Tayuya started as she looked at the other grave before pointing, "Why the hell would anyone not take that fucking thing?"

"The Kubikiribocho is heavy," Naruto replied as he continued to examine Haku's empty grave, "And Zabuza didn't have any special bloodlines...Haku did."

"What, you sayin' the snake-pedo came through here?" the girl asked as she approached the famous sword and investigated it. There were a few cracks along the edge and she lifted a finger to test its sharpness when Naruto growled.

"He took a **Rakiri** to the chest, couldn't that have been enough?" Naruto asked under his breath. Tayuya turned away from the sword and went to her friend's side. The hooded blind shinobi was trembling in repressed anger and tears, prompting the normally vulgar redhead to hesitantly put a hand on his shoulder. Naruto's face turned towards hers, revealing red tears threatening to spill from his eyes, "Who would do this?"

Tayuya frowned and knelt next to the blonde, leaving her hand on his shoulder, "I don't know Shithead, but we could always find the fuckers and kick their asses."

Naruto smirked and lifted his arm to clear away the bloody tears, "Yeah...Thanks Tay-chan..."

"Tch, don't get all sappy on me, Shithead," Tayuya muttered with a blush as she averted her eyes. Damn the blonde for getting under her skin and breaching her heart's well-developed walls. She couldn't stand to see him like this, and she had only done so once before, earlier on their journey.

Naruto sighed and reached into the grave where the dirt had been pressed from Haku's body. He scooped the dirt up and crushed it in his fist as he silently vowed to find the one that desecrated one of his first friends' grave. As he brought his hand back to his body, a new scent hit his nose. It was weak, but he could smell it. It smelled like cooked fish, with a hint of a sea breeze. He didn't notice it before with Tayuya's strawberry scent so close and Haku's body's faint frost-like one engulfing the area.

"I've got a scent," he realized before looking at the redhead with a grin, "I've got a scent!"

"Wha-Hey, wait, where the fuck are you going, Shithead?" Tayuya demanded when the blonde suddenly ran off into the forest. With a growl, the girl immediately followed. A few minutes of chasing later and the redhead caught up with her blind crush.

"What's your plan, Shithead?"

"Track 'em; find 'em; _kill_ 'em!" Naruto replied without deviating from his path as he ran through the woods, performing acts of impressive acrobatics. Tayuya sighed and moved from the forest floor to the trees, preferring the high route that she had grown used to opposed to the lower one that Naruto preferred.

* * *

Unbeknownst to the two, they were being followed by the same shadow that chased them earlier. A frown marred the hidden nin's face as they thought, _Who are you tracking, Naruto? Who do you want to kill?_

* * *

Naruto continued to run until he skidded to a stop in a large clearing, his unique eyesight catching every detail thanks to the various critters in the forest and their chatter. Before him was a scorched campsite, various bodies all curled up from being fried by some sort of attack.

_The lighting was striking a campground?_ Naruto thought with a frown. Tayuya landed next to him, equally surprised by the discovery and vocalized her thoughts.

"Well...If my guess is right, our mission just got a whole-fucking lot easier."

"No kidding," Naruto replied as he started to walk through the clearing, examining various bodies and what remains of their clothing. Grabbing a charred piece of cloth, he brought it to his face and sniffed before holding it away from him with a look of disgust, "Ugh, smells like burnt ramen."

Tayuya rolled her eyes at his words, "That's because it's the worst fucking thing in your retarded mind to smell, dumbass."

Naruto tossed the rag away and pointed at the girl, "Hey, don't mock me Tay-chan. Just wait until you get a bowl that was left to cook for too long. You'll see what I mean."

"Tch, whatever Shithead," Tayuya replied with a frown before kneeling next to two corpses with what appeared to be a chain wrapped around them. They were back to back with their arms at their sides and their heads down. She knelt in front of one and began to examine it for any recognizable features when its eyes suddenly snapped opened and a rattle left its mouth. Frightened, the redheaded girl released a very female scream of, "HOLY FUCKING SHIT!"

"What? What is it?" Naruto asked as he appeared next to the startled girl, before focusing on the rattling voice and its origin. The blonde took a step back out of shock, "FUCK!"

"I know right? How the fuck is that asshole still alive? He's fucking charred worse than the pervert's steak was!" Tayuya replied with disgust.

Naruto turned to respond to her when his ears caught a faint, scratchy, "K...m..."

Turning to the charred man, Naruto sent more chakra to his ears and asked, "What did you say?"

"Shithead, he's been burnt to Hell, he can't-" "Shut up, Tayuya!" Naruto snapped, silencing the girl immediately as he looked back at the man, "I'm trying to listen."

Tayuya scowled and looked away, hiding the faint blush she had from his commanding tone. Ignorant of the girl's reaction to his words, the blonde looked at the charred man and asked again, "What did you say?"

The two words that left the mans mouth in a quiet scratchy voice weren't that unsurprising, "Kill...me..."

Cutting the additional flow a chakra from his ears, Naruto sighed and unsheathed his blade, "As you wish."

Tayuya watched with veiled interest as the blonde walked towards the bound man. Pulling back his blade, Naruto ended the man's life with a quick stab to the man's heart. Bowing his head, the blind blonde whispered, "_Yasuraka ni nemure_."

Pulling the blade out, Naruto flicked it to the side to rid it of the blackened skin and blood that accompanied the act before he sheathed his sword. With a sigh, Naruto knelt in front of the dead man to close his eyes when his knee brushed over something sharp. Looking down, Naruto's eyes widened when his unique sight coasted over the man's left hand. Covering it was a blackened gauntlet, the chain wrapped around the two corpses came from there.

"Meizu..." he said in realization before looking at the body behind the now known chunin nukenin, "And that's Gozu."

"Wait, these are the fucks we were hired to kill?" Tayuya asked before tensing, "Then...who the fuck killed them?"

"That's a very good question," Naruto replied before swiveling around and tossing a kunai at the trees. His action caused Tayuya to spin around and face the direction. A muffled tree branch was heard by the blonde and he clenched his jaw, "Back to back, Tayuya. We don't know how many there are."

"Right," the girl replied before they moved into position. They stood back to back as Naruto suggested, Tayuya's hand on the sheathed flute resting behind her while the blonde reached for the blade on his back. While he had trained faintly in the art with a toad that was particularly skilled in kenjutsu, Naruto still wasn't a master or anywhere near being one; nevertheless, he'd do what he could to protect his teammate/friend.

A feminine giggle echoed throughout the clearing and the sky slowly darkened. Naruto and Tayuya felt their bodies tense as adrenaline started to coarse through their veins. The womanly giggle became a voice and she spoke, "_My, oh my. What an adorable little duo that has come to my plate. A scrumptious looking young man and his equally delicious partner...Who should I eat first?_"

"This chick has issues..." Tayuya muttered, earning a slight nod from her companion.

"_Hehehehehe, so you're the ones that the good ole governor hired to kill these sorry excuses for swordsmen and shinobi? I can at least say the man has good __**taste**__._"

"Why don't you come out and face us?" Naruto asked cautiously. Another branch shifting was heard and his sight focused on it instinctively.

"Because there's no fun in an immediate face off, my scrumptious little shinobi," a voice whispered in his ear. Naruto and Tayuya jumped away, both landing at the same side of the clearing when the mysterious woman appeared near them.

The woman stood just a bit taller than them, with bandages loosely tied around her neck. She wore hakama-like pants with striped legwarmers beneath them pooling over her sandals. The woman wore a loose pinstriped shirt with a dark obi, hiding most of her figure. The most distinctive part of her appearance however was her long red hair and the odd red cloth she wore along with her sliced through Kiri hitai-ate. Her feminine features included thin lips and dark eyes that seemed to stare into your soul like a shark. Not to mention the two swords sheathed on her back.

She smiled and Naruto made a correction with his description.

The most distinctive features she had was her sharpened teeth.

_Shit, she's one of the Swordsmen,_ Naruto thought with a grimace, _Hopefully she wasn't too close to Zabuza or knows I was part of the team that saw him die._

The woman seemed to smile wider as she noticed where Naruto's right hand was, "A fellow swordsman...Interesting...And a Konoha brat at that. How very interesting."

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked wearily as Tayuya brought her flute to her lips. The woman smirked.

"What, you don't want to know my name?" she asked, feigning a pout, "How rude."

Naruto bit back a growl and decided to keep the foreign kunoichi pleased by asking, "Who are you?"

"Much better!" the woman replied with a smirk, "My name is Ringo Ameyuri, now, may I ask for yours?"

Naruto frowned, "Uzumaki Naruto."

That earned him a quirked eyebrow, "Uzumaki? Strange...And your little girlfriend here?"

"I'm not shithead's girlfriend!" Tayuya snarled, "My name is Tayuya."

"The North Gate...You've made quite a name for yourself young lady," Ameyuri said with a smirk, "Shame you both have to die. You'd both no doubt become worthy meals for my Fangs."

Naruto fully unsheathed his own 'fang', "Yeah, well let's see whose got more bite."

"Hehehe, oh how I love good wordplay with my meals...However, two on one seems so unfair. Oh Hunter-san~!" Ameyuri sang out as she reached behind her to grasp her own weapons. Naruto tensed and his heart pounded in his chest as he laid eyes upon the figure that appeared next to the Kiri nukenin in a swirl of snowflakes. The mask, the same mask he had shattered with his own fist so long ago and then repaired to properly mark a certain grave, stared mockingly at him.

Tayuya noticed Naruto's fists clenching and could feel the killer intent leaking off of him. She knew something was wrong the second this Hunter-nin appeared in the clearing. With a scowl on her face, she glared at the masked one. The mysterious shinobi tilted his head slightly before he spoke, his voice no louder than a whisper and a tad scratchy.

"It's good to see you again, Naruto-kun."

Naruto let a growl escape his bared teeth, "Who are you?"

"How mean. Are you sure this is the boy you remember Hunter-san?" Ameyuri asked with a smirk as the hooded blonde's rage started to grow.

The nin nodded before replying, "I'm positive."

"Tell me who you are so I can at least know the name of the bastard that desecrated my friend's grave!" Naruto demanded as his purple eyes turned violet and his whisker marks darkened.

"Has it really been that long for you to forget me?" The nin asked with his head tilted to the other side.

"I don't know you, but I know who you're impersonating, and it's pissing me the fuck off!"

The nin said nothing before giving a sigh and reaching up with a pale hand to grasp the mask that shielded his face. Naruto and Tayuya tensed as a soft click was heard. Slowly the mask lowered and Naruto felt his rage plummet as disbelief took over. Tayuya frowned in confusion and glanced at her crush when he gasped.

Staring at the now unmasked nin, Naruto stuttered, "B-But...How?"

"I owe my life to Ringo-sama, Naruto-kun," the nin said as a serene smile came over his face, "I'm sorry, but it seems like we must fight once again, as I am Ringo-sama's tool."

Naruto's fists clenched and he frowned, "You haven't changed a bit...Haku."

* * *

**AN: And it's back. You know you loved it. How was Haku revived? Why isn't Ameyuri dead? What is their mission, anyway? Until next time on Hold My Hand.**

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